Team Aberdeen University Racing (TAU Racing) enjoyed its quickest ever performance at the Formula Student competition at Silverstone, finishing first in Scotland and third in the UK in the annual student motorsport event.
The team of motorsport enthusiasts, who designed and manufactured their own car, came 6th overall out of 81 teams from around 20 countries. Around 3000 students from as far afield as Jordan, India, and Hong Kong participated in the competition, which took place from July 17-21.
This year’s TAU Racing Car has been the quickest the team has ever entered into the competition, where they were the fastest UK team in the acceleration and sprint events, where they placed third overall.
In addition, the team picked up the FSUK 2019 ‘Celtic Cup’ as the top team from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and were only the third team to pass technical and safety scrutineering (ahead of the remaining 78 teams) thanks to their detailed preparations prior to the competition.
The four-day event, which is organised by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) challenges teams to design, manufacture and race a single seat race car, while testing their business, cost and design skills in a number of other related events.
Arran Strutt, TAU Racing’s Project Manager, said: “I am delighted to have achieved such a fantastic result and want to credit our brilliant team members who have all shown incredible commitment to the project. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team this season and it has been great to show to our competitors that the University of Aberdeen are here to bring results home.”
Professor Igor Guz, Head of the School of Engineering, added: “This is a fantastic achievement for the TAU Racing team, particularly as they operate on a modest budget compared to most other teams in the competition.
“Together with our PrototAU racing team’s recent success in the Shell Eco-Marathon with their hydrogen-powered car, TAU Racing’s excellent performance further demonstrates the diversity of our students’ activities.
“TAU Racing’s achievement is testament to the hard work that our talented students have put in over the past year in their preparations for the competition, and I am delighted that their efforts have been rewarded.”