UMR Formula SAE Team finishes fourth out of 140
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A team of University of Missouri-Rolla students placed fourth out of 140 college and university teams in a global competition of formula-style race cars held May 20-23 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich.
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| UMR’s Formula SAE racer performing in the 2004 competition (photo by Santa Fabio). |
The UMR Formula Race Car Team participated in Formula SAE, a worldwide competition of college and university students. The contest, which was sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, is designed to showcase students’ engineering skills.
A record 140 teams from schools representing 12 nations took part in the 23rd annual event, which is hosted by Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Daimler Chrysler AG.
Each team designed a one-third-scale prototype racing car for evaluation and possible production by a fictional automotive manufacturer. The cars were judged according to static engineering design, cost analysis, acceleration, maneuverability, fuel economy, endurance and other factors.
In addition to the UMR team’s fourth-place finish, the group took first-place honors in the auto-cross racing event. Cornell University won the overall event. As one of the five fastest cars in the event, the UMR vehicle also will be featured in an upcoming issue of Road and Track magazine.
A record 50 UMR students were members of this year’s team, and more than 30 traveled to Michigan for the event. Dr. Hank Pernicka, associate professor of aerospace engineering, is the team’s chief faculty adviser.
