2005 Formula SAE competition in Detroit, Michigan

[Jovan Ceklaj]

BACKGROUND ON THE EVENT: Every year there is a student competition held in Detroit Michigan where universities from around the world compete with a race car they have designed, built and tested.  The money for these competitions are raised by the students and provided by generous sponsors.  

UBC has competed in this competition for the past 13 years and has had a best of 8th place in 1995.  Let me tell you, this is an incredible result.  The caliber of cars there is exceptional and (what seems like) the simple task of finishing is a cause for celebration.  Example - This year 44 teams finished the endurance event and this was considered really high (usually 34 to 38 teams finish).

There are teams from around the world that have HUGE budgets and a LOT of team members so it's hard to compete with that but that's just part of the competition and you'll see that no matter what you do.

RESULTS:
http://www.sae.org/students/fsae2005results.xls

Being the leader of the UBC team, I have to say I'm very proud of my team and it's accomplishment.  23rd place was no easy task and us getting 4th in Canada was a very good result considering the level of competition.

PICTURES:  Here are some links to some pictures of the cars from this year.

http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit/index.htm
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_2/index.htm
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_3/index.htm
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_4/images/images/index.htm
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_5/index.htm

http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_6/index.htm
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/HostedPics/2005_Detroit_7/index.htm

I really have to say that taking part in a competition like this is extremely time consuming and really hard on you both mentally and physically.  Too give you an idea on it, I generally spend at least 40 hours a week designing/machining/organizing.....on top of school!  It's thanks to great team members and awesome sponsors that bend over backwards to help us (Like Mark at Metal Action) that make this possible.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures!

[Dilvinder Grewal]

which ones ubc's car??

[Jovan Ceklaj]

Oddly enough, I can't find any full car shots of our car that I have uploaded anywhere.  I'll be sure to get some up soon and post again but in the meantime here's a shot of our 2003-2004 car which had very similar body styling.

[Artem Goloubov]

is it a 6 or 7 bolt? :laugh:

[John Hartman]

Kawasaki.

Very well done Jovan and all the rest of you guys.

once its wold wide, the level goes WAAAAY up, both budjet and skill wize.

23 is awesome. wtg.

[Kimyee Lai]

Good job Jovan, nothing like starting your career out with some management experience in you bag.  It's a lot of work, but it'll be all worth it in the end.  Just like DSMs...sorta .

[Kimyee Lai]

Good job Jovan, nothing like starting your career out with some management experience in you bag.  It's a lot of work, but it'll be all worth it in the end.  Just like DSMs...sorta .

[Martin Raska]

Here are a few of hundreds of pics

Our car waiting for some race:


Jovan and another guy supervising my work on the car at  night, in the paddocks, where you could find many teams swapping engines, rebuilding cars, etc all night long, every night:


Diff biting the dust in the final stages of the final race.  Perfectly designed diff I guess, got us through everything:


A beautiful automobile:


Where Jovan comes from:


There are plenty of sweet rides like this in Detroit:


Stopping in South Dakota at Mt Rushmore en route home, where we were drinking 40oz'ers and... don't need to speak of anything else from that night.... God bless USA.

[John Hartman]

Sir Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman would have been proud of that diff.  Just strong enough to finish the race

[Martin Raska]

Pictures galore, if anybody cares:

http://www.formulaubc.com/gallery/

[Martin Raska]

Liked that diff picture?  That was only an euruption, check out the explosion that happened today (too bad didn't have more pics/video):

http://www.formulaubc.com/gallery/2005events