MUR Motorsports Newsletter- January 2016

Happy new year to all!

With the coming of 2016 the team has swiftly gotten back to business in preparation for this year’s FSAE competition. The team has spent the month thoroughly testing the 2015 car and completed the first round of the Victorian Hillclimb Championship at the Rob Roy Hillclimb. We were also very lucky enough to have a tour around Prodrive's incredible factory!

Furthermore, with January coming to a close it was time to tear down the car after a hard month of testing and competing, a job which saw the team work long hours into the night to complete. 

Testing

Firstly, the team would like to thank the Oakleigh Go Kart Club and DECA Driver Training for the use of their facilities over the past month, the opportunity to test so frequently is invaluable and we greatly appreciate the support!

Getting the car on track this month has been vital in prepartion for round 1 of the Victorian Hillclimb Championship and 

with the arrival of many new members for the 2016 team, it provided the perfect opportunity to acquaint everyone with the car and the nature of testing itself!

Victorian Hillclimb Championship

January also saw the team getting right back into competition with the first round of the 2016 Victorian Hillclimb Championship held at the historic Rob Roy Hillclimb. The venue itself dates back to 1935 and at the time was one of only 3 purpose built bitumen Hillclimbs in the world!

The team entered the Formula Libre up to 1300cc class, which pitted us against dedicated Formula cars of which set the fastest times for the day. For the event, the aero pieces of the car were removed to take advantage of the high speed nature of the short 400m track, as the downforce provided wouldn’t have been enough to make up for the reduction in acceleration and overall top speed.

The drivers of choice for the day were long time team members David McGahey and Will Page who posted their best times of 24.13 and 24.36 respectively, allowing the team to secure 5th and 6th place in our class and 9th and 10th overall!

Teardown

A busy month for the car meant that it was time for the team to completely tear it down to ensure that we can have it running at its maximum potential for future events and testing. We also took this opportunity to test the torsional stiffness of the chassis itself, as the car has begun to accumulate a great number of hours.

This was a task that took many, many hours to complete, but now with the car as a whole once again it’s time to bring on another big month in February!  

Recruitment Update!

The team is still taking applications for the 2016 team but those interested need to be quick as applications will be closing very soon!