Monash FSAE - Third Place

A team of Monash students have finished third in the Annual Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competition for 2007 held in December. First place went to University of Western Australia and second place to RMIT University. Competing against 21 other teams from across Australasia, the Monash team were thrilled with the third place result. Rivalry is fierce for a position in the top five, as finalists qualify for international competition.  Formed in the USA, the Formula SAE competition allows student members to conceive, design, fabricate and compete with small formula-style racing cars. Each year teams must build a new car from scratch to compete, which provides students with hands-on experience in an engineering project. The cars are judged in three different categories; static inspection and engineering design, solo performance trials and high performance track endurance.

A team of Monash students have finished third in the Annual Formula SAE competition for 2007 held in December

The Monash Formula SAE team is an organization of over 50 students. The team is open to Monash students from all Faculties, although the team mainly comprises of Engineering students.

The uniting objective of the Monash team is to compete successfully each year, build a team culture that maximise the educational benefit for all students and to reward supporters with a professional public image and publicity.  
The 2007 SAE team accessed first class facilities during the car’s production. They were able to test the aerodynamic response of the car in the Monash wind tunnel. Chisolm TAFE has also offered much needed assistance by providing facilities to run machining workshops for all team members.

Dr Kris Ryan, Mechanical Engineering lecturer, supervises the student run SAE project.
He says the commitment of participants is outstanding and he’s proud to be associated with such a team of ambitious and dedicated students. The competition is also highly regarded by the automotive industry, which is keen to offer SAE students employment upon completing their degrees.

Team Leader of the 2007 Monash SAE team, Tristan Atkins (Industrial and Engineering Management) says he’s undecided as to what he would like to do upon leaving Monash but is certain his experience of Formula SAE will be an asset in any field.

As last years Team Leader, Tristan was responsible for looking after the technical and operational aspects of the project. He describes the lead up to competition day as quite stressful.
“As you would expect from all the sleepless days before competition I was tired, frustrated and most of all worried about all the unforeseeable problems. Would the car pass scrutineering? Would it pass the noise test? Would the car go the distance without any breakdowns? Once the final event was over I was very relieved that the car completed both endurances ….  I was very proud of all the team members who made this result possible”, says Tristan.

Next to take over the reins of the Monash SAE 2008 team is Boon Yeo (Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering).  

Boon had little interest in cars (besides playing video games!) before joining the SAE project.

As the new Team Leader, Boon is focused on his aspirations for 2008.

“The goal is to make a solid car that will get us in the Top 5 at the end of the year and set the team up for a development cycle that will carry on into next year.

As for challenges that lay ahead, our Honda CBR600s have been used past their time and a replacement is being sort after. For people that walk in and out of Building 37, they can clearly see that we are renovating our workshop which is another big task on our shoulders”, says Boon.

But it’s not all hard work and no play.

Andrew Brandt (Mechanical / Aerospace Engineering) has fond memories of his last 3 years in the SAE team.

 “Fitting up chassis tubes in the workshop or spending hours on the road driving back and forth to testing venues, good memories with a good bunch of mates. I guess being a part of a team that starts with nothing, works solidly for a year, and produces a race car that finishes all events at competition … is just a great accomplishment. You end up spending a great deal of time together as a team – there are a lot of late nights and it really is just like one big family!”, says Andrew.

Andrew was Team Leader of the 2006 Monash SAE team and describes the experience as one of the most challenging throughout his time at Monash. Upon reflection, Andrew believes time and budget restraints were most difficult to work with.

Noticing the race-car on a student visit to Monash during high school, Andrew was eager to get involved in the project.

“I applied because I wanted to be involved in a practical, engineering project – and what better way to do it than to be involved in the design, manufacture and racing of a race car”, says Andrew.

One of the highlights of Andrew’s time with the SAE team was attending the inaugural Formula Student Germany competition in 2006.  

“It was my first trip overseas, and what better way to do it than to be on the famous Hockenheim race track with students from around the world. Mind you, I think the final ranking of 8th out of 41 teams was the icing on the cake”.

Based on the SAE team’s impressive performance at last year’s Australasian competition, Monash qualifies for Germany once again, where [funding permitting] they will race against other European teams in 2008.