Engineering Now .: Volume 2 - Edition 4 .: October 24, 2005
2005 Toronto Shootout
Western's Formula SAE team raced their 2005 vehicle for the last time
Saturday, October 1 at the 2005 Toronto Shootout at the Mosport race
track.
The Mosport race track was setup on a go-kart track, which was unlike
anything the team had ever driven on. The track was fast and had a
number of elevation changes and reverse camber turns. This new
style track took some getting used to - for Western's team, and the others.
At the start of the race, all times were slow but increased
as the drivers became more familiar with the course. Western's team started with mid-pack times, but quickly learned the track and worked out the best line.
After a few laps, George Konstantinopoulus,
Western's second driver, drove a lap which was ranked in the top three place
range.
This lap beat the team's previous record of sixth place range for fastest times.
Unfortunately for Western, all teams increased their times and within just few hours of
George's record-breaking lap, Western was in the fourth - fifth place range.
During the last two hours of the race, Western's team was consistently maintaining a
fourth place range,
staying within 1 second of the fastest time. Then Chris Gregory,
Western's fastest driver, got behind the wheel and drove the fastest lap
of the day. Unfortunately Chris's fastest time did not stick, and within the last 20 minutes, 3 teams
drove slightly faster laps.
In the end, Western finished in fourth place. Remarkably, the top 4 teams
were all within 9 tenths of a second.
Overall, the 2005 Toronto Shootout was a great success
for Western's team. In addition to their competitive finish, a number of
first-year students and new team members also participated at the event
to see what
Formula SAE racing is all about. The course also gave current team
members a chance
to test their skills on a new style track.
The 2005 Toronto Shootout has left the team very motivated for final testing, driver training and the development of new systems for the 2006 car.
Also from this web page:
Contact
.: Allison Stevenson
Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2074
Telephone: (519) 850-2917 Fax: (519) 661-3808
contactweATeng.uwo.ca
