Some days ago I received an email from a group of students from the Engineering University of Sevilla (Sevilla is a city located in the South of Spain). They said they were going to participate in “Motostudent”, an engineering competition I was completely unaware, and that I founded very interesting.
Motostudent is promoted by the Moto Engineering Fundation. This fundation is formed by several organizations like Dorna Sports or ANESDOR (which is the Asociation of Spanish motorbikes manufacturers).
Motostudent is an international competition for engineering students teams. They must design and build a 125 cc. road racing motorbike.
The competition has several stages (design, safety tests, dynamic tests, etc). Those teams able to pass the different tests will participate on a race. The riders will be selected by the organization among federated riders from junior championships.
The organization will provide the engine, brakes, suspensions, wheels, and probably the ECU. Students must design and build the rest of the bike: chassis, subframe, airbox, bodywork, etc.
In the car world this kind of competition exists from 1982, when the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) created the Formula SAE. This idea was a big success and since then the number of competitors has been increasing year by year, so that curretly there is a championship, the “Formula SAE Series”, that has 8 races among USA, Great Britain, Italy, Australia and Brasil.
As it occurs in Formula SAE, in Motostudent students must look for their own sponsors and technical partners. Students can look for technical advice both among teachers from their university or among professional engineers, etc.
I wish there was a competition as Motostudent when I was a student. Anyway it is never too late, in their email the Sevilla Team asked me if I would like to contribute in their project as external consultant, and of course I accepted without doubt. I am sure that it is going to be a very interesting experience for both parts!
[tags]motostudent[/tags]