What's Up Bracebridge Gravenhurst - Whatsupmuskoka.com

WHAT’S UP MUSKOKASPORTSAdrienne’sFamily Restaurant, Gas Bar & VarietyUnderNEWOWNERSHIP!On Hwy 11 South, Huntsville | 789.6477Early Bird Breakfast Special $5.99Top five finish for engineering teamUWO Formula Racing Team members Charles Dusastre, Ryan Alexander, Matthew Ferguson, Andrew McIlroy and Nick de Koning at the wheel, placedfifth out of 80 teams at a competition in California last month with an open-wheel race car they designed and built.By Chris OcchiuzziBuilding a race car would seem like atall order for most people, but not forNick de Koning and his peers.The engineering student and Bracebridgenative is part of a team competingin the Formula SAE student design competitionseries.The teams form a fictional manufacturingcompany, which is required todevelop a small Formula-style race car.Each team designs, builds and tests a prototypebased on rules, which are thenused to evaluate the vehicle. FormulaSAE explores all aspects of the automotiveindustry, from research and design tomarketing, management and finances.“It’s a group of students from eachschool that basically form the racingteam. You design and build a race car andyou’re judged on the design of the car,you have to do a business presentationand then there’s the racing aspect as well,”says de Koning, who is entering his fifthyear at the University of WesternOntario. “It’s Formula 1 style cars.They’re larger than go-karts, but not asbig as a real Formula 1 car. We use a600cc Honda motorcycle engine. Andthen we design and build all the drivetrain and all the uprights, suspensionmounts and chassis.”Competing under the moniker UWOFormula Racing, de Koning and histeammates finished fifth out of 80 teamsat a June 16-19 competition in California.Not only did they design and build thecar, four UWO Formula Racing teammembers also drove the vehicle, as performanceis also a big part of the event.“They judge on the total aspect of thecar,” says de Koning. “There’s an accelerationrun, a skid pad event, an auto crossand an endurance test. That’s the fourdynamic events.”In order to be ready the car needs to bebuilt at least a month prior to competitiondates. Testing, data acquisition anddriver training on the vehicle are requiredbefore each competition.“This year we went to two competitions;we went to Michigan as well asCalifornia,” says de Koning.In Michigan, 120 teams took part inthe May 12-15 event with de Koning andhis teammates finishing 20th.This series is worldwide, with teamscoming from as far as Japan and India toattend competitions in North America.“There’s teams from Germany, Austria,Australia, all over the world,” says deKoning, who stumbled upon this hobbyin his first year of university. “When Iwas in first year, I saw the guys out testingat night one time. And it’s pretty coolwhen you hear this car that sounds like amotorcycle but it’s even louder. I just sawthem there one night and decided to signup. It’s my fourth year now.”And entering his fifth year of engineering,de Koning is sure to keep going withUWO Formula Racing.“There are different scales of involvement,”says de Koning. “I’m prettyinvolved, but there’s people who mayonly do one thing. There can be up to 40people involved.”While 20 students attended the Michiganevent, only five took the trip to California.The small number of team membersamused one judge.“The people that judge you on designand that govern everything are engineersor they’ve worked with F1 or NASCAR,”says de Koning. “This one judge from F1was really surprised we only had five peoplethere.”But those five students are all de Koningand his teammates needed to get atop five finish in a challenging competition.Photograph: courtesy of John de Koning26 July 2010 www.whatsupmuskoka.com