Davies Craig Sales & Marketing Manager John Benson was in attendance for the Monash Motorsport Design Launch at the Monash University Clayton Campus on Thursday 6^th July. Davies Craig has long supported the Monash Motorsport team in their Formula SAE efforts and holds a bronze level sponsorship. The Monash Motorsport Group has been working towards getting both a Formula SAE Electric and a conventional combustion engine based Formula SAE on the track by July 22. The date has been proposed for initial testing in order to be ready for the Formula SAE National Competition to be held at Calder Park in Late November.

The two chassis were on view on the night along with the 2016 Formula SAE race car – which has a Davies Craig 9” Fan on the rear of the radiator and a EWP80 Electric Water Pump in lieu of the mechanical pump. The Formula SAE internal combustion engine in 2017 will be a KTM 690cc naturally aspirated motorcycle engine. The engine will be unmodified, except for the water pump, of course! The radiator will once again carry a Davies Craig 9” fan. In the past the engine capacity of these internal combustion racers had been limited to 600cc and Hondas were the engine of choice. The KTM engines are significantly lighter, stronger and have excellent torque which is pivotal in the various styles of events these race cars are required to compete.

On hand to answer questions about the brand new chassis were the various design teams, fabricators, suspension and aerodynamic personal. Formula SAE race cars are coming quite sophisticated in their suspension, chassis engineering and aerodynamics with a strong emphasis on chassis strength, reducing weight and ride height. These factors have become critical elements to succeeding in this form of motorsport. Over the past few years there has been a significant shift towards electric vehicles; however both classes are still very well supported around the world by tertiary institutions. Davies Craig is proud to be involved in such a technologically sophisticated category of racing and we can’t wait until November to see how the team fairs at Calder!