Engineering students revved up about competition

There might come a time when groups with like interests representing Alberta's two biggest cities will be able to come together in the spirit of friendly competition, compete against one another and not keep score.

However, for the University of Alberta and University of Calgary student vehicle project teams, that day will have to wait as the 'Battle of Alberta' resumed at the Stratotech Park International Raceway recently.

"It's just a friendly competition," said Matthew Min, a fourth-year electrical engineering student who, when pressed, admitted there might be a little more on the line than friendly pats on the back. "There will be bragging rights for sure, but we'll be collecting data as well."

In the end, the U of A's open-wheel racer took the acceleration portion of the competition, as well as two out of three autocross tests. This is the first time the two schools have gone head to head in this type of competition, although both schools have participated in the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) competition for years.

The concept behind SAE is a simple one: build the best open-wheel racer you can from scratch, following the SAE rule book.

Obviously, it's easier said than done, considering each U of A car takes two years to build.

"The first year is design work, everything from chassis, suspension, engine intake and exhaust," said Dustin Birtch, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student and project team leader. "The second year is spent building and testing the car before it heads off to competition."

This year's model employs a 600 cc Honda CBR600 F4I motor, pulled from a sport bike. It has a top speed of a little more than 160 km/h, pulls off between 70 and 80 horsepower despite massive air intake restrictions, and hits 60 on speedometer from a standstill in 3.5 seconds or - as Birtch put it - "Corvette quick."

There is also a static portion, or business element of the competition that involves pitching each car design to the judges as if the design were for sale. To help out with this business side of the event, Formula SAE has called upon the services of the U of A School of Business.