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Photo
by Chris Hammond
Some members of the Formula MUN team with their wheels. |
By Michelle Osmond
“This started out as an interesting
project. But then after several 20 hour days it becomes incredibly
important. It becomes part of your life. You’re so focused
on it that you throw all of your energy into it. Then, it’s
the best feeling in the world when at two or three o’clock
in the morning you can stand back and be proud of what you’ve
just accomplished. It becomes worth all the stress you’ve
endured over the last few months.”
Mathew Garvin is this year’s team leader for the Formula
MUN racing team. This week, from May 19-23 in Pontiac, Michigan,
Memorial University’s Formula MUN car racing team is competing
against 140 racing car teams from around the world in the Formula
SAE. The Memorial car, known as “Number 38,” has
been a year in the making and has been built from the ground
up by a team of 10 students; 10 excited but very anxious students.
However, Mr. Garvin feels confident that this year's car and
design is a much stronger entry than last year’s, incorporating
new materials to make it the lightest car they’ve ever
built. He says they are much better prepared this year and he
would be personally disappointed if they did not crack the top
40 overall.
“I expect that we will do very well in the design portion
of the event which has been our strongest aspect in past years.
We’ve learned so much. By working on this project, we’ve
been dealing with problems daily that are unimaginable to the
typical undergraduate student.”
Memorial University President Axel Meisen says he’s very
proud of the Formula MUN team and how far they’ve come
since starting nearly a decade ago.
“Our engineering students are extremely bright and motivated,”
said Dr. Meisen. “They not only receive an excellent academic
education, but through the mandatory co-op program, they obtain
practical, real-life engineering experience during their studies
at Memorial. Projects like Formula MUN and the Formula SAE competition
support our objective of providing students with a hands-on
learning experience.
“We are very optimistic that the 2004 team has the ingenuity,
design and management skills to become world champions.”
The Formula MUN project cost approximately $20,000 this year
and has very strong support from Memorial University. In addition,
the Formula MUN team is grateful to community sponsors, including
the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland
and Labrador, Gateway and West Side Charlie’s, for their
support of this year’s project. |
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issue: June 10, 2004
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