Our 2017 Team Principal Brett McAulay briefly sums up our progress over the last campaign and wishes the best for the year ahead:
2017 was a year where UOW Motorsport took on fresh challenges, stood up against high expectations, and drove through adversity both expected and unforeseen. Late in 2016, we campaigned to be able to take on two significant tasks in 2017. The first; a transition to a new engine platform as we took advantage of favourable design changes in the 2017 Yamaha WR450 with suitable package re-design to take advantage of the new, lighter and smaller engine.
Secondly; UOW-M drove towards the electric future as we developed our first ever electric vehicle package. Both of these endeavours pushed the team to its limits, especially being attempted concurrently. The pressure was immense and did become too much for some. Throughout the year we had several personnel changes as well as serious modifications to our timeline, design goals, and team objectives. The team performed admirably throughout this trying year. All three divisions contributed to a highly successful year with our internal combustion vehicle, Missy, placing 2nd in Australasia, and our electric vehicle passing all static scrutineering, ready to relaunch in 2018.
I was honoured to be chosen to lead the team in 2017 and excited at the teams’ development throughout the past year. I look forward to seeing the evolution of UOW Motorsport in 2018 and beyond, given the exciting trajectory we are on.
Brett McAulay