Monash presence at the Grand Prix
Chris Heath driving at the F-SAE Championships in December
The Monash Motorsport team will be on the track at the 2012 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to showcase their Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (F-SAE) Championship winning race car.
The team, comprising over 50 engineering students from Monash University, placed first overall of the 23 university F-SAE teams from Australia, India, Japan and New Zealand who competed.
This feat led to them being invited to perform a 10 minute on track demo at the Grand Prix on Thursday 15 March, and to have their car on display for the entire event near the V8 Village.
Their win at the F-SAE event was their third win in a row, making them the only team in the world to achieve a hat-trick in the competition.
Driver controls engineer for the team, Chris Heath, said the chance to promote the Monash Motorsport team at the Grand Prix is a fantastic opportunity.
“The team is excited to be able to demonstrate the capability of Monash engineers to the fans of Formula 1. As many of us aspire to become Formula 1 engineers in the future, this presents a great opportunity to show that we have what it takes,” Mr Heath said.
The F-SAE Championships are run annually for university students to develop a car for less than $50,000, giving the winners the opportunity to drive the main straight of the Albert Park circuit and providing a demonstration platform for the young engineering masterminds.
Following the hat-trick of wins the team will be taking the car to Europe to compete in the Formula 1 student UK and Germany events in July and August this year.
“By competing in Europe, we’re hoping to better our 2010 result of 3rd place in the world championships. Monash is currently ranked in the top five of over 480 teams worldwide,” Mr Heath said.
“The majority of the top ranked teams will be competing in the European championships, allowing us to test our car and team against the best in the world.”
The Monash Motorsport team will be on the Albert Park circuit between 12.15-12.25pm on Thursday 15 March.
For further information visit the Monash Motorsport Facebook page.