TEAM Aberdeen University (TAU) Racing are set to defend their Formula Student title in Silverstone next month, after delivering a winning business presentation at the event last year.
Over the past ten months, the group of 40 students have spent 11,000 hours designing and building from scratch a single-seat race car with a built-in advanced Engine Control Unit (ECU) to monitor the vehicle’s track performance during the race event from 9-12 July.
With more involvement than ever before from ADIL, their primary sponsor for seven years, TAU are hoping to speed to victory on the race track this year with their upgraded car as well as scooping their second Business Presentation trophy win.
As well as providing financial backing, the leading energy consultancy in Aberdeen have mentored students through business management and presentation skills, and provided advice on budgets and spending. ADIL have also organised a series of practice pitches for TAU to present to experienced business consultants within the company.
Matt Huntington, general manager for technical at ADIL said: “TAU have made fantastic progress over the past seven years, particularly in terms of approaching the build and development of the car as a full scale engineering project with business elements to it.
“Last year we came in and mentored some of the engineers ahead of presenting their car to a panel of judges at the formula student event, and were really happy for them when they won the Business Presentation award. This year we have increased our face-to-face mentorship to the team by hosting a dragon’s den style session for them to enhance their presentation skills.
“Supporting initiatives like this has been a great way for us to engage with the up-and-coming generations of engineers before they head out into the workplace. Most of the students within TAU study engineering, and many of them are planning to pursue careers in the oil and gas industry. We think it’s really important for companies like ours to find new ways to help young people understand the workings of this sector both from business and technical perspectives.”
Since introducing the ECU to the vehicle last year to monitor the engine, TAU have advanced the system further to now include GPS, suspension sensory equipment, and wireless connectivity to a team laptop which will be trackside to the race. TAU have also had to follow strict guidelines from Formula Student to manage resources and keep all costs within their financial budget for the year.
Calum Muir, project manager of TAU Racing said: “Everyone at TAU has been working really hard to make this car our best one yet. Last year we impressed with our ECU system, and are keen to do so again with our upgraded version and new programmes in it.
“ADIL have been a great sponsor to have onboard, as they give us really useful advice on the project management and presentation elements for this event. We are working well as a team and are confident that we can deliver a business pitch to impress at Silverstone.
“Above all though, we are looking forward to putting our new car tech to the test and finishing the race higher up the ranks than in previous years.”