Cardiff Racing are the winners of the FISITA Award for Best Endeavour at UK Formula Student 2006 competition held at Bruntingthorpe from 5 – 8 July.
The award was made in recognition of the Cardiff team’s heroic efforts to get their car ready to compete in the all important Endurance Event, following a major set back on the first day of the dynamic events.
Cardiff Faculty Advisor, Prof. Karen Holford explained, “A brake disc failed due to a fatigue crack and seriously damaged an upright. Some of our most skilful machinists returned to Cardiff and worked through the night to modify uprights and brake assemblies from a previous car, whilst the rest of the team continued with the static events and promotional work, as well as preparing the car.”
The time lost meant that the team were unable to compete in the acceleration and skid pan events, but through enormous effort the car was ready for the sprint event and the gruelling endurance event on the final day. In the end, Cardiff Racing were one of only 26 teams to complete the endurance event, finishing 17th.
Cardiff came 19th in the competition overall. delighted with the performance of both the car and the team members. The team’s determination, spirit and hard work was praised by other teams, judges and marshals and resulted in Cardiff Racing receiving the FISITA Best Endeavour award.
Commenting on the award, Prof. Holford said, “We were extremely pleased to win the FISITA prize as it reflects true strength and achievement of the team in the face of adversity.”
Cardiff were also awarded the National Instruments award for the Best Use of LabView, which they utilised in design of the car’s Magneto-Rheologic damper system.
The University of Toronto were overall winners of the 2006 competition for the second year running.
Formula Student is an international competition organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, FISITA’s member society in the United Kingdom, in which university students design, build, develop, and compete as a team with a small single seater racing cars.
For more information on Formula Student visit: www.formulastudent.com
For more information on Cardiff Racing visit: www.cardiffracing.co.uk
For information on Formula Student / Formula SAE events world-wide visit: www.fisita.com/formula