MUR Motorsports Newsletter- December 2015- MUR 2nd at FSAE Australasia 2015!

What a month December was! Whilst December may be the coming of the holiday season, for us and all the other FSAE competitors it is when we finally put a year’s worth of hard work to the test, at the 2015 Formula SAE competition! 

December was not all about competing however, with the team quickly resuming testing after competition, and also completing the arduous task of cleaning out the workshop.

FSAE Australasia 2015

The team would like to announce that we have achieved our best result ever! Securing 2nd overall behind Monash, and as an added bonus, moved up into 7th in the worldwide combustion rankings! Our most notable results are as follows:

  • 2nd place overall
  • 1st place Endurance
  • 3rd place Acceleration
  • 4th place Autocross

Thursday/Friday

The weekend began with the team making the final preparations to the car for the rigorous scrutineering by FSAE officials. As always, there were a number of areas of the car that needed alterations but after hacking away at enough carbon fibre the car was cleared for competition and given the FSAE stamp of approval. As such, the team was then able to put the car through its last phases of testing before the beginning of the dynamic events on Saturday.

Saturday

The morning began with the Acceleration and Skidpad events, with the team off to a promising start securing 3rd place in Acceleration, and 7th in the skidpad.  

The coming of the afternoon saw the Autocross segment of the competition with MUR Motorsports securing a solid 4th place, showing that the car was not just quick on paper and throughout testing, and cementing itself as one of the frontrunners for the upcoming Endurance event.

Sunday

With the final day of competition came the most important event of all, the Endurance event, and it wasn’t as smooth sailing as the results might suggest. Juggling a multitude of issues with the car, the team was unable to complete the first endurance session, being forced to withdraw due to issues with both the throttle and brakes. This was of particular disappointment as the car was performing admirably with a strong finish looking almost certain.

To make matters worse, in the lead up to the second and final session, the team was struggling to amend the problems which had begun to plague the car, and as the final session became closer and closer the team only narrowly managed to fix the problems with mere moments to spare.

However, in the second endurance event it was clear that the issues had certainly taken its toll, with the car running several seconds a lap slower than before and up to 8 seconds a lap slower than the leaders. Monash in particular were setting lap record after lap record and it looked increasingly likely that they were going to walk away with the Endurance trophy. As the old adage goes however, ‘to finish first, first you must finish,’ and this couldn’t be closer to the truth. With only a few laps to go, Monash’s car began bellowing smoke from their turbocharged engine, forcing their early retirement, and with the pace of the University of Canterbury’s car dropping off dramatically from a suspected problem the set was laid out for a fairy-tale finish for the MUR2015 as it pulled off an unlikely win, shocking everyone including the team themselves!

Lastly, everyone at MUR would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to all those who have supported us throughout the year, sponsors, faculty, alumni, family and friends. Without your help and support, we could not have put up such an outstanding performance!

Other news

December wasn’t all about fun however, with MUR beginning the daunting task of cleaning out the entire workshop for the first time in a number of years. It was a task that took around 15 members two whole days to complete and resulted in a number of interesting discoveries from an alarming amount of impact attenuators to brand new parts belonging to cars designed during the team’s infancy!

Recruitment Update

MUR would also like to remind everyone that applications for the 2016 team, both junior and senior, are still open but those interested need to apply quickly as applications will be closing soon.