Podium finish at season end for University’s racing team

The team, made up of a combination of University engineering students and staff as well as professional staff, competed as part of the professional 2015 Mono2000 Championships which ran from April – October 2015. Races also included circuits at world famous Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington Park.

Driven by pro-driver Shane Kelly, the Formula Renault car is based at the University’s Telford Innovation Campus and allows students to have real life experience of working as part of a motorsport team. It forms part of the University’s Motorsport and Automotive Engineering course portfolio; the courses, launched in September 2015, focus on applying technical theory to real world situations.

David Tucker, Principal Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University heads up the team. He said: “The last rounds of the season represent a significant achievement for the University of Wolverhampton, and the students and staff involved in the team. The full season’s racing has been a huge undertaking, demanding long hours to be put in behind the scenes with the actual events over in minutes.

“Credit has to go to all concerned, both those on the team and for everyone who has supported them. The benefits the students receive from these types of events contribute greatly to their employability, personal development and life skills.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the way the opening year’s racing has gone.”

Jeremy Dimos, who is in his final year of studying BEng Motorsport Engineering, added: “A final podium in our last race of the year has been the perfect end to a big first year for the team and encapsulates all the hard work and long hours put in by the whole team."

Final positions on the 2015 Mono2000 Championships season leaderboard will be announced shortly. ‌

Earlier this year the University announced plans to invest £12m in new state-of-the-art facilities and courses to help create the next generation of skilled engineers.

The major investment will provide advanced new engineering facilities as part of the University’s response to the regional and national shortage of qualified engineering graduates.

New courses are now offered in the areas of automotive and motorsport engineering, chemical engineering and electronic and telecommunications engineering for 2015-16, followed by the introduction of food engineering and aerospace engineering in 2016-17.

The majority of the investment will go into transforming part of the University’s Telford Innovation Campus and providing specialist equipment for the new courses with additional investment in facilities for chemical engineering at the City Campus in Wolverhampton.

This will include creating a design and visualisation facility, a Formula 1 specification wind tunnel, engine test facilities, 3D printing facilities and laboratories dedicated to electronics and telecommunications, metrology and materials testing.

To keep up-to-date with the UWR Team you can follow progress via Facebook www.facebook.com/UniversityWolverhamptonRacing Twitter www.twitter.com/UWRacing or Instagram www.instagram.com/uwracing/ 

ENDS

For more information please contact Claire Tallentire in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736, email: C.Tallentire@wlv.ac.uk