Queen's celebrate successful formula

Queen's students are celebrating after winning the prize for 'Top Performing UK Team' and finishing 6th overall at the 2004 Formula Student Competition.

A team of 14 students from the School of Mechanical Engineering built an ultra-light and powerful racing car for this year's Formula Student competition in Leicestershire.

Formula Student challenges teams of students to conceive, design, build and compete in a small single-seater racing car over three days of competition. The team must take part in a series of seven events deliberately designed to test engineering, business and driving abilities to the limit.

A total of 67 cars from across the world took part in this year's competition; and while Queen's didn't take the top prize – that honour went to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from Australia – they did rank extremely well and are well placed for further success in the 2005 event.

Dr Geoff Cunningham, the project supervisor, was full of praise for the students' performance.

"The students have shown tremendous commitment over the past year and have made many sacrifices in order to compete at this high level," he said.

"Events such as this provide an excellent forum for local students to demonstrate their skills and prove that they are as good as students from anywhere else in the world."

A number of the team will be returning in September, after a well deserved break, to start preparations for the 2005 competition. Anyone interested in following their progress can do so online at www.queens-racing.com

(MB)