Racing accelerates student learning
U of T Formula SAE team a passport to auto engineering careers

The University of Toronto's Formula SAE racing team is off to a head start this year, and is gearing up for May when members will head to Michigan to compete against more than 100 other universities.

Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) is a unique racing programme that gives university engineering students hands-on experience in the field of race car design and manufacture.

The programme involves designing, building and racing an open-wheel race car, about one-third the size of a Formula One car.

The cars are judged in four categories: Static inspection, engineering design, solo performance trials, and high-performance track endurance. Requirements must be rigorously met on the race car's chassis and engine, encouraging students to put their engineering creativity to the test.

The project is entirely student run and is a valuable learning tool for those with an interest in automotive engineering.

"I have learned more from being on the team than I have in class," says team member Kevin Burke, a third-year engineering student who is also in his third year on the SAE team.

Burke says that for anyone in first year engineering, it's an "excellent" programme in which to get real hands-on experience. He has been able to apply experiences and problems encountered in the programme to his engineering classes.

You don't have to be an engineering genius to join, says Burke, adding many people who come into the programme don't have a lot of background knowledge and learn almost everything within their first year.

One must be dedicated, however, as being part of the team is "more like a job than a hobby."

The programme also serves as a powerful reference for those looking to get into the auto engineering industry, with many former team members being signed onto NASCAR race teams and six former members starting their own FranAm race team, called the Autotecnica Group.

The team, largely funded by U of T, is also attracting attention from corporate sponsors, including Bombardier, Honda and Dana. Its total budget this year was about $48,000 and hopes are that with more sponsorship the budget can be boosted by 25 per cent next year.

Due to some financial problems and the proximity of exams, the team was not able to make the FSAE Australia competition this month. But, with more funding next year, it could compete Down Under.

The U of T team's car design for 2004 is already complete. By February, it hopes to have the car built and ready to race. Plans are to take it to North Carolina for some early, warm weather testing.