 BROOKLYN,
MI (May 12-14, 2011) -- International collaboration may be a developing theme
among teams competing in the annual Formula SAE event in Michigan.
Once again this year, students from Oregon State
University teamed up with students from Duale Hochschule Baden-Wurrttemberg-Ravensburg in Germany
as part of Global Formula Racing (GFR) to dominate this year's Formula SAE
competition at Michigan International Speedway.
GFR again used Hoosier's
6.0/18.0-10 LC0 tires to
carry them to the overall win in this year's prestigious event. In fact, the top seven overall finishing
teams rode on the Hoosier tire brand.
The two schools have worked together on various
aspects of vehicle design the past four years. The first two years the schools
each built their own car. But last year they co-produced a single car to compete in both the U.S. and the
European competitions.
For the second consecutive year, Global Formula
Racing emerged the overall Formula SAE winner.
More than 125 teams were registered for
the competition with 99 of them bringing a working vehicle to the
event. Of those 99 cars on hand, 66 of them opted to run on Hoosier
tires.
Unlike previous years, Hoosier was also the only
tire manufacturer on hand to provide mounting and balancing service to the
competitors at this year's annual event.
Once again, teams came from all over the globe
to compete. Teams came from as far away as Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India,
Mexico, Singapore, South
Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.
Formula SAE is an international student design
contest organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers with more than 1000
engineering students participating over a three-day period.
The Formula SAE competition challenges students
to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style race cars.
Restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so the knowledge,
creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged.
The cars are built with a team effort over a
period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging
and comparison with other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout
the world.
The end result is a great experience for young
engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of
working in a dedicated team effort.
The vehicles are judged and receive points in
eight different categories including; cost, presentation, design, acceleration,
skid pad, autocross, endurance and economy.
The Formula SAE board sets the parameters
for each category and gives team points according to their performance and design.
At the end of the event, the team with the most points wins the overall
competition.
The competition has become so popular that, in
addition to the two Formula SAE events in the United States, competitions are
now being held all over the globe.
After graduation, many of the participants will
go on to work in the automotive field in various capacities using many of the
skills acquired through their involvement with Formula SAE.
The annual
event has also become a valuable recruiting tool of many top companies seeking
out the world's best engineers who, through their Formula SAE participation,
possess real-world skills.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. has
been participating in the annual event since the early 90's.
Hoosier offers price discounts
on all Formula SAE tires to all the competing teams.
In addition to price
discounts, the top three finishing teams in the Autocross competition were
awarded free tires.
Hoosier Road
Racing Product Manager Jeff Speer, once again, attended the annual event to
provide his product expertise to the competing teams. Trackside sales and
service was provided by Terry Gilvin of Hoosier Tire Midwest-Plymouth.
Speer stated, "We
(Hoosier) have been involved with Formula SAE competition for more than 15 years
now. We realize
the importance of supporting the teams with tire information, product discounts
and trackside service."
"Our goal is to provide each team with a safe,
competitive, and reasonably priced race tire for them to build their race car
on," Speer added.
"We are
very proud of all the teams who made the decision to use Hoosier race tires in
this year's Formula SAE competition."
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. congratulates Global Formula Racing on their
back-to-back wins and offers its thanks to all the teams
participating in this year's event who competed on Hoosier's "Tires Designed for Champions."
For more information about
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. and Hoosier products visit www.hoosiertire.com.
You can learn more about the
annual competition by visiting http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/.
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