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| Cal Poly Pomona's Formula SAE Team prepares for competition at the California Speedway June 14-17. |
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| The Bronco entry is being fine-tuned for competition against 71 national and international teams. |
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| All in a day's work for Cal Poly Pomona's pride and joy. |
Cal Poly Pomona's Formula Racing Team is revved up and ready to roll at the California Speedway in Fontana for the 2006 Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) West event on June 14-17. This is the first time an SAE Formula event has been held on the West Coast, but it will no doubt spur a trend.
With 71 teams registered, including 12 international teams, there will be an abundance of student engineering prowess on display. Cal Poly Pomona's own team is comprised of more than a dozen students from a variety of majors who are working overtime to continue the universitys winning tradition in SAE competition.
“We are all very excited to have the SAE Formula competition here in our backyard,” says faculty adviser and professor Clifford Stover. “The facilities at Cal Speedway in Fontana are state of the art, and the competitors include some of the best engineering students in the country.”
Cal Poly Pomona, he notes, is right up there with the cream of the crop. And the Bronco SAE Team, aware of its status as “host” in Southern California, has extended a welcome to the University of Wollagong's SAE Team. The Australian team members are now lodged at Kellogg West and their car is safe and sound in the Engineering Projects Lab.
Formula SAE teams will compete throughout the site, using the infield road course and paddock area, as well as the NASCAR garages. The suites above the hot pits will be used as a conference center for teams to make their sales and design presentations. The demands for SAE Formula contests are rigorous and time consuming. Student teams must design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racecars. There are severe restrictions for car frames and engines, so students must be ingenious, creative and imaginative in order to challenge for the top prizes. It takes nearly a year to build an entry-level car that will be pitted against approximately 140 other vehicles from colleges and universities around the world.
“We're stoked,” say team members, who are working around the clock as they prepare for June 14. “We hope the Cal Poly Pomona community comes out to cheer us on.”
The 2006 Formula SAE West runs from Wednesday, June 14, through Saturday, June 17. Admission is free. The team members for Cal Poly Pomona are: Christine Berry, Scott Borg, Donald Christensen, Chris Cook, Kevin Gilbert, Robert Godlasky, Marshall Grice, Nicholas Haddad, Brian Hegenauer, David Monette, Daniel Olson, Jeremy Smith, and Dustin Torkay.