Melbourne engineers on top

A GROUP of young Australian automotive engineers last weekend took out the latest Formula SAE competition, held at the home of the British Grand Prix.

Melbourne’s RMIT University team beat 68 rival groups of engineering students from around the world to win the 2007 FISITA Formula SAE World Cup at the Silverstone race circuit.

Team leader Geoff Pearson and the RMIT team have revolutionised Formula SAE competition with their sturdy steel-framed chassis powered by a single-cylinder Yamaha 450cc engine and have won many events in recent years.

FISITA, the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies representing 147,000 automotive engineers, awarded the title to the Australian team after four days of competition at Silverstone, with second place going to Delft University of Technology, Holland and third to the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

The FISITA Formula SAE World Cup brings together the winning teams from the national Formula SAE competitions to compete against each other. This year’s event was staged in conjunction with Formula Student 2007, organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

As the overall winners of this year’s competition, the RMIT team now qualifies for sponsorship from FISITA of up to 10,000 Euro (A$15,740) to take part in next year’s event, to be held in May 2008 at Michigan International Speedway, USA.

Formula SAE was first introduced by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the USA in 1981 and involves engineering students from universities all over the world designing, building and racing small, formula-style cars.

With restrictions on the car frame and engine specifications, the students’ knowledge and creativity are challenged and their skills in management, marketing, presentation and teamwork are developed.