Letter Regarding NUS FSAE sucess

First of all, congratulations to the team behind Centennial V. The team of 16 NUS students are the most sucessful team since NUS started participating in the FSAE competition, held yearly in Michigan. They managed a reputable 19th position out of 119 entries and also emerged as the top entry from Asia.

While the Nus FSAE team might have a history of 8 years, their first chance to race came only in 2004. Prior to that, a lack of funding restricted the team from participating in the yearly race. Since their first race, the team has improved with each race. It is not an easy feat for the students behind the car. Each year, the team builds a new car. The parts used in their car other than the engine are not commercially sourced but rather designed and built by the students themselves. As mentioned by Prof Seah in an interview given in 2005, the reason behind it was to allow the students to fully understand the mechanisms of the car.

The car was built at an estimated cost of a hundred thousand dollars. Although it cost more than an average saloon car in Singapore, let us not forget the amount of technology that went behind it. The team produced their own paddle-type gear shifter, often found only in cars with racing pedigree. It took team member Mazher Anwar four months to develope and perfect the design. The paddle gear shifter allows the driver to keep his hands on the steering wheel while changing gears, which happen within a hundred milliseconds.

The journey has not been all smooth sailing. When the team initially started our, the faced many problems. A lack of race car engineering resulted in a slow start. When their design was finalized, there was no place for them to test it as it was not road legal. Only with determination and passion, the team laboured on and eventually achieved results.

Once again, I would like to commend the team for their effect in the FSAE competition and may the team achieve even better results in the next competition.

Review - NUS Formula SAE Race Car

This post will be regarding the review of an article about the FSAE race car which was published in STREATS on Tuesday, September 7, 2004. The contents included the results of the NUS Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) car's particpation in the 2004 FSAE meet, the design processes of the car and inclueded quotes from an interview with one of the team members.

The article was very informative and provided information regarding the FSAE race in a manner which makes it easily understandable. The information provided included the number of participants, the position of the car and the limitations that were imposed and had to be followed in designing the car. Actual satistics were used to back up the statements, such as stating that the NUS FSAE car came in 58th out of 140 cars and that there was a US$25,000 budget for making the car. Also, the use of technical terms was limited so that the article can be easily understood by the average reader who lacks specialised knowledge concerning race cars.

However, the few technical terms used did not have explanations of what these terms mean. This makes it more difficult for readers without prior knowledge to understand what the author wants to convey. For example, readers who do not know much about cars will not know what the 20mm limitation imposed on the air intake is for. In addition, an interview conducted with one of the team members was inserted, but an interview with the teacher-in-charge was not inserted. Quoting from interviews with both the teacher-in-charge and the team member would have provided more balanced insights and answer questions like the reason for spending so much money on a team of so little students when the money could have been spent in other ways.

Overall, the article was very informative and provided readers with information regarding the FSAE car. Moreover, the information was presented in a way that makes it easy for everyone to understand.

[i] Article URL: http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/fsae/oldsite/image/Motorshow%20-%20-Streats%20-%207%20September.pdf

Feature - NUS Formula SAE Race Car Project!

Have you ever aspired to design and construct your own race car and compete with the rest of the racing world, Formula One style? Your chance is here! Join the NUS’ very own race car project to fulfill your potential! The NUS Formula SAE race car project gives undergraduates to the opportunity to create their own dream race car and to compete among top-notch engineers from universities around the globe in this annual prestigious inter-varsity design competition held in Michigan International Speedway, USA.

The Formula Society of Automotive Engineers, or FSAE in short, always is a advocate of this competition as they always regarded formula racing being the apex of automotive engineering. This competition not only involves designed-centered and practical engineering, it will also be a priceless educational experience for the undergraduate participants which will surely add gloss to their future job prospects.

The NUS FSAE race car project is established in 2001, and the main team of the project consists of undergraduates from the second year onwards, with the seniors being in their final year, contributing to the cause with their expert and precious knowledge critical to the success of this competition. Although with their short history of barely a decade in their belts, this year would be the seventh car the team has competed in this competition. The ‘Centennial V’ competed in this huge event in the USA this year and beat all odds to obtain and overall ranking of 19th out of 119 teams, a remarkable feat considering it is the best entry from Asia for the last four years, and the NUS team best performance ever recorded. The NUS team has undoubtedly overcome Singapore’s limited knowledge on race car engineering to be part of the global aristocrats.

However, the NUS team’s believes that their full potential has yet to be realized and there is certainly further room for improvement. We need you to be along us to achieve this ultimate goal!

Commentary - Motorsport Culture in Singapore

Brief history
I recently attended a lecture given by Associate Professor Seah Kah Heng who is the head of National University of Singapore’s (NUS) very own ‘F1-style’ team, the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE). FSAE started without much fanfare in NUS back in 2001. The team members creates its own racing car each year of which their latest car, 'The Centennial V', helped the team clinched their best ever result in a race held in the United States. The team was placed 19th out of a total of 119 teams!

Assoc/P Seah laments
In his lecture, he described some points about the difficulty they faced when competing annually, and one point that struck me was the lack of motorsport culture in Singapore. So I thought did Singapore ever have a motorsport fraternity back in the olden days? Did Singaporeans have any motor-sporting culture at all?

History of Singapore’s motorsport
Looking back, Singapore did indeed have a motorsport fraternity, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. It would be surprising to know that Singapore did host a similar Grand Prix back in the 1960s. It was known then as the Singapore Grand Prix (1961 – 1973). Its route was along old Thomson Road and like the Marina Bay circuit that has names for those nerve-defying turns, there were the ‘devil’s bend’, ‘the Rothmans’s corner’ and the ‘the nee soon hairpin’[i]. Furthermore, like the present GP, the then Singapore GP attracted large crowds; there were no tall concrete-bottom fencing lining along the route preventing free-loaders from watching, just about everyone could stand at the side to catch the excitement. However, the race was over after 1973 when the government cited safety and funding issues that prevented them from organizing the race annually[ii].

The racers and spectators
The then Singapore GP not only attracted many racers, it was also a place where people came and spent the weekend soaking up the atmosphere. Like the current Singapore GP, there were also many foreign racers who came to Singapore to compete and their presence brought excitement to the race and spectators. The spectators’ support was also appreciated by the racers especially Graeme Lawrence, who scored a hat-trick when he was competing between 1969 and 1971. He remarked, “The atmosphere was absolutely electric: the enthusiasm, the people, all the rest – it was a credit to them. I fell in love with the Asian culture and to this day I still have a great admiration for what they do, the way they work…’ [iii]The thrills and frills of the then Singapore GP was also chronicled by author Eli Solomon, who wrote a book about the history of the GP in ‘Snakes & Devils’ (2008). Briefly, the book managed to trace the then Singapore GP through pictorials and extensive interviews with race drivers who took part[iv].

The demise and its continuity
The craze about motorsport among the locals died down after the last 1973 Singapore GP but it did not fade away. According to Singapore Motor Sport Association, the motorsport racing continued after 1973 but it had to seek alternative sites[v]. Those venues were located on industrial land in the western part of Singapore. Presently, many local motor-racing enthusiasts do go across the Causeway during the weekends to race in places like Sepang and Pasir Gudang.

The future
On the other hand, the government recently has re-focused its attention to the motor-sport culture. One of the reasons given was ‘… (The) government is keen to tap is the business potential of the motorsports industry’.[vi] Currently, there are three bidding consortiums who are vying to build Singapore’s first permanent track near Changi Coast Road. The project promises to bring back the motorsport culture of the yesteryears. As the president of Singapore Motor Sport Association, Mr. Tony Tan, who remarked in an article, “…This is something we can call our own. Fewer trips to Sepang and Pasir Gudang for us soon!”[vii]

So it remains to be seen whether the recent developments can bring back the motorsport culture in Singapore. However, in hindsight, we can look forward to one day having our very own NUS FSAE team designing and engineering a race car for the big names in the motorsport industry!

[i] Snakes, Devils and the Wisdom of Solomon, Sports Illustrated South Africa, http://www.sportsillustrated.co.za/features/article.php?article_id=667&related=multisport (Last viewed on 10-9-2009).
[ii] SSC Sports Museum, Singapore Sports Council, http://web.archive.org/web/20061229153633/http:/www.ssc.gov.sg/museum/ssm_cat_details.jsp?type=4&root=20&parent=20&cat=23 (Last viewed on 10-9-2009).
[iii] Snakes, Devils and the Wisdom of Solomon, Sports Illustrated South Africa, http://www.sportsillustrated.co.za/features/article.php?article_id=667&related=multisport (Last viewed on 10-9-2009).
[iv] Snakes & Devils, a history of Singapore Grand Prix, http://www.rotikok.com/index.html (Last viewed on 11-9-2009).
[v] Singapore Motor Sport Association, http://www.smsa.org.sg/ (Last viewed on 11-9-2009).
[vi] Motorsports to get permanent Changi race track, The Straits Times, 27 October 2007.
[vii] Motorsports to get permanent Changi race track, The Straits Times, 27 October 2007.

Hello! From E23 NUS Race Car

Hello!
If you happened to see this, please note that we are not the official website about our school's race car.

This blog was set up as part of our EG1471 assignment. One of us will make a post (feature, review, letter and commentary) in this blog in the next few weeks. So if you are interested, do bookmark this blog!