History

Details

The UQ Racing team comprises approximately 20 students from across the University of Queensland, with a range of backgrounds including engineering, business, commerce, journalism, IT and science. The students must work together not only to design and build a Formula SAE eligible vehicle each year, but also manage their own budget and finances, marketing, sponsorship, administration and occupational health & safety requirements.

UQ Racing was established in 2001, producing its first vehicle & debuting in the Formula SAE Australasia (FSAE-A) competition that year. The team further developed the original car for use at the 2002 FSAE-A competition. At the 2003 Australasian competition, UQ Racing placed third overall with a new car, earning top Australian team honours. 2004 saw UQ Racing taking first place in the acceleration event in both the English (Formula Student) and Australasian competitions, as well as third in the endurance event and fourth place overall at FSAE-A in Melbourne. 2005 saw the team record its best results to date, winning the acceleration event, and finishing second in the endurance and third in the autocross events, placing UQR second overall. Based on this performance, the team was invited in August 2006 to the Hockenheim Grand Prix circuit, for the inaugural Formula Student Germany. The team performed brilliantly, achieving an overall win in the dynamic section of the competition - winning the autocross and the endurance events, the latter by an impressive margin of 19.68 seconds - to finish the event fourth overall. Trialling a prototype turbocharger setup at the 2006 Australasian event saw UQR experience teething problems with a new car, however the team still completed the competitive competition in eleventh place.

The last of the team's original members graduated from the University of Queensland at the end of 2006, and over the following three years a new generation of UQ Racing team has been learning and developing the skills required to produce a successful Formula SAE challenger.

UQ Racing competed at the 2010 FSAE-A competition, passing scrutineering and competing on-track for the first time since 2006. Unfortunately the weekend was brought to an end with a broken driveshaft in the Endurance event, leading to an overall result of 30th place

2011 saw further development of the UQ Racing car, to creating a competitive & reliable challenger for the 2011 FSAE-A Event. Extensive testing throughout the year, combined with strong organisation & preparation by the team led to the UQR car competing in - and completing - every heat of every event in the FSAE-A competition (for the first time since 2005), including achieving 4th place in the Presentation Event, resulting in a 15th position overall finish.

For 2012, UQ Racing is producing a new car - UQR12, which is already under construction. The team is aiming for a top 10 overall result in the 2012 Formula SAE Australasia event, due to be held in Melbourne in late November/early December.