Our team was formed relatively late in the academic year. The lack of a previous team or any member of staff with experience with the activity implied that we had no previous structure or advice to fall onto. Hence it was a matter of starting off from scratch and getting our act together.

Being first and second year students, also implies our theoratical skills are not to the ideal. None the less we are confident in UWE's course content, and outside lecture help and thus we welcomed the challenge. However our university has a very strong stand on the way this project should be managed and it is our belief that it is the correct way to see it. This is our challenge, our initiative, and our design, hence it should be our own management and effort that produces the results. it is on this self found courage and pride that our team was formed and will beyond any question of doubt - continue to function so.

The team structure was set in such a way to maximise our different skill sets such as to match the vehicle's design requirements and yet not close off any particular engineering award or academic year to become a totally independent group. This resulted into our sub groups (refered to as departments). Similarly it was of paramount important, that in such a small net group of like minded individuals, our team would have to interect fully with itself as a whole team and within its departments. These teams also were placed into effect diplomatically and such as to ensure that first years and second years had equal importance.

It goes without saying that our ultimate and only target is to compete at a Class 1 level with a competitive and ingenuities vehicle design.  However we must humble ourselves and not get ahead of ourselves by setting realistic phased targets to be able to reach this goal in the future by us and our successors.

 

Our goals for 2008

1. Form an effective team structure.
2. Understand the requirements of the competition at a Class 3 level.
3. Use simple designs to enable us to understand the fundamentals of a race vehicle.
4. Follow up and fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
5. Grow as a team and become better engineers.
6. Build good working relationships with sponsors, industry and other competitors.
   

2008 is all about learning and developing the mechanisms to run a team and design a race vehicle. Simplicity is the key, and constant improvement is the philosophy. As one of the greatest designers and engineers of all times Leonardo Da Vinci once said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

 

Our goals for 2009

1. Get the new team up and running.
2. Re-iterate our design process incorporating more radical and innovative approaches.
3. Finish well in the competition.

2009 will be the year were together with learning we will be targeting to let our vehicle to do the talking on track.