Our Team Principal, Claudia, weighs in on our successes in competition and adaptions for the future to ensure even greater results for 2019.
“The business end of 2018 saw UOW Motorsport compete in the SAE Australasian competition in early December where we travelled down to Winton, Victoria, with 50 of our members and our 2018 vehicles; Susie our internal combustion vehicle, and our electric car, Evii. To add to this feat, the team also travelled up to Sydney Motorsport Park mid January to compete in the opening year of Formula Student Sydney to round out the conclusion of the 2018 Australasian leg of the competition.
“The final results of our 2018 campaign saw the team take home 1st place in Endurance with Susie, and 4th overall in the internal combustion category. This was an outstanding result and one that we are very proud of. We’re also particularly proud to start seeing some results from our long and tumultuous two-year development project of our electric vehicle. UOW Motorsport’s challenging campaign to go electric and give the platform the attention and effort required paid off, and I am certain anyone who was there that weekend of December ’18 wont forget the sheer thrill of Evii making it across the line for her first lap of endurance. We may not have finished a dynamic event in the electric class this time, but the booming cheer from all our fellow teams, friends, competitors, and officials echoed for days for us as a team and has spurred us into the new year.
“Moments we won’t forget, teams from across the world cheering us on as we raced to get Evii onto the track, with the announcers congratulating our efforts for our hard work and dedication. To see this massive milestone in our history was extremely heart-warming, and we do encourage and commend any team trying to get their platform off the ground, the struggle is clear as crystal to us now. We are beyond excited to see where our little Evii will go in the future and feeling incredibly motivated given the results from these competitions and her outstanding debut.
“Our season wasn’t over yet.
To conclude our 2018 campaign, we competed in Sydney’s first formula-student event, being a spectacular opportunity to support a new, promising leg of the competition. Safe to say we were pleased with the result. The team was lucky enough to achieve another great feat, taking home another armful of awards and spots on the podium. To say that our combustion vehicle was a lazy Susan would be a great disservice to her, as Susie claimed 2nd in the combustion class overall, 3rd in skidpan, 2nd in endurance, 2nd in autocross, and 2nd in efficiency. Evii succumbed to some faulting issues to our dismay, however, we were still able to snag a 3rd place in the EV class overall with a 2nd in skidpan and the ‘Hard Luck Award’ for the team’s valiant efforts to get her back on track. Our Business Division was pleased to accept the ‘Best During-Competition Video’ and ‘Best Social Media Coverage’ over the course of the event, a great way to acknowledge those who work hard behind the scenes in our team.
“These events landed us 7th overall in the world rankings – that’s 7th out of over 600 teams for Susie, and 106th out of 172 teams worldwide for Evii – an impressive position in her early years of development. We couldn’t be happier with the results of our 2018 campaign and look forward to taking part in the competitions all over again in 2019. However, we couldn’t have done so well without the support of our many valued sponsors who have helped us every step of the way. We couldn’t do what we love if it weren’t for the ongoing support from the University of Wollongong, UOW College, Unilife, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, Bluescope, WIN Network, Sydney Motorsport Park, Komatsu, The Yard Cafe, Calm Aluminium, Novotel North Beach Wollongong, Engineers Australia, 3DSystems, CarsForHope, and Bridgestone Select Wollongong.
“The project also wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of our members who are the foundation of a yearlong effort to combine classroom skills with real-world design, the development of components and grand projects. The countless hours and sheer commitment the students pour into the project is a testament to the high calibre of students from all disciplines at UOW and the passion they share for motor sporting excellence which we hope to exude into our 18th year as a team.
“2019 is looking to be a challenge, just like its predeceasing years, and we have taken it on with a spirit this group of students shows year and year out. With the move to a single-car campaign, we are hoping to focus our efforts on the electric vehicle to give it the right go it deserves, focus our resources and attention to the electric platform and give it the potential we have worked so hard for with our internal combustion car all these years. Although we are sad to say goodbye to the sound and smell of the combustion vehicle that has become all too familiar with us, we feel it is time to leave it on a high note and take big leaps to conquer the electric field – something that is very exciting for the future of UOW Motorsport.
I hope to do what I can to lead us there.”
Claudia Muller
Team Principal 2019