2020 QLD Comp Day 1
On Tuesday, December 8th, 2020, the UQ Racing team attended the first day of the highly anticipated Queensland Student Shootout. After we assembled at the Queensland Raceway, the team unpacked the trailer and readied Barnacle for Day One.
First up, the judges inspected the vehicle's electrical requirements, passing all checks with the exception of our high voltage stickers. After moving our stickers to a more suitable location on the car, we were ready for the mechanical inspection.
Barnacle passed the mechanical and ergonomic checks with flying colours, resulting in egress times of well under 5 seconds and some very comfortable drivers! For the first time in recent memory, UQR passed its brake test on the first try, with the car locking all 4 tyres quickly and efficiently to finish off the scrutineering section of the day.
The static events of Day One started with the Presentation Event. Our business team, Victoria and Mitchell, presented their concept for our next generation electric vehicle, Mussel to the panel of judges acting as a board of directors. This involved identifying new features between vehicle iterations, benefits to the customer, total cost of the car and the go-to market strategy. Following up with questions from the judges, the presenters smashed it out of the park!
After much practice, the cost team consisting of Kyra, Caleb, Ed, Jess and Harry presented their solutions to the cost event scenario. This involved discussing the long-term cost impacts of COVID-19 and how to account for these changes in the immediate and long-term future. After some tough questions from the judges, the team described our assembly of the shock absorber and the fan within the rear of the vehicle before receiving feedback on our cost report.
The final event for the day was the design event, which saw each sub-team giving a 15 minute presentation of their design process over all areas of the car and their management techniques. Each person involved was thoroughly prepared with documentation and our aero team even came prepared with some very snazzy posters.
By 5:30pm, the team packed up the gear and headed home to rest up - ready to wow the spectators with Barnacle’s straight line and cornering speeds in the acceleration and skidpad events on Day Two. To see all of the action at Queensland Raceway on our facebook page click here!
Written by: Jessica Hartfiel
