Competition Celebrates 25th Year, Attracts Student Engineers
from around the World
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental awarded its
prestigious "Best-in-Class" Brake Systems Award to three college teams at this
year's 2005 Formula SAE Competition held recently at the Pontiac Silverdome.
The award is based on innovation, technology, cost/value, analytical and
design methods, component and material selection, failsafe and overall
packaging of the braking system in the student-designed and built Formula SAE
race cars.
This event is the largest student engineering design competition and the
world's largest single-class motorsports event. Continental was a sponsor of
Oakland University, one of the ten Michigan universities and colleges
competing.
"The advanced materials and technology incorporated into these cars
included carbon fiber, metal matrix and titanium and was very impressive,"
said Phil Headley, chief engineer, who presented the awards for Continental.
He also cited the use of state-of-the-art design and analysis tools.
Student teams from 140 different colleges and universities came from all
over the world to compete in this year's 2005 Formula SAE competition, but it
was the team from Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, that overcame logistical
and other challenges to take top honors and a $1,250.00 prize for this year's
"Best-in-Class" Brake Systems Awards.
The team combined creativity and resourcefulness to adapt low-cost parts
to their race-ready braking technology. A 1978 Volkswagen service part was
used for the master cylinder; the team built their own rotors and developed
their own heat treat process; their caliper design featured one machined part
that was symmetrical, allowing its use for both halves of all three calipers;
and they performed Finite Element Analysis on all parts to ensure system
reliability.
"Theirs was just an outstanding overall effort and they really had to go
the extra mile in overcoming challenges. The level of design, engineering and
fabrication demonstrated a strong grasp of the competition parameters and the
result was very impressive," said Headley.
A second place award of $750.00 went to the University of Illinois at
Champaign/Urbana, Illinois team, for their design that incorporated a unique,
hand-operated "fiddle brake." Their innovation allowed the driver to apply
the rear brakes individually in order to modify the handling dynamics of the
car.
The team from the University of Toronto, Canada took third place and
$500.00 for a design that used extensive data-gathering from their 2004 entry
to set requirements for this year's system. The team's extensive research
resulted in a new caliper mount design that achieved maximum heat transfer and
effectiveness.
While providing a fun and challenging competition for participants,
sponsorship of the event pays important dividends for Continental.
"As a safety system leader and a pioneer in braking system technologies,
our future depends on nurturing the creative engineering talent that is on
display here and as a company, we feel it's our responsibility to help foster
it," said Trisha Adler, Human Resources Recruiting Specialist. "Plus, it's
really exciting to see the innovation these student engineers bring to a
racing environment," she added.
With 2004 sales of approximately $15.6 billion (US), Continental AG is a
major supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics,
tires and technical rubber products. Continental Automotive Systems' North
American operation is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich. and is a leading
global supplier of quality automotive systems that contribute to driver
safety, comfort and peace-of-mind. For additional information, visit our
media website http://www.contitevesna.com/index2.htm .
SOURCE Continental
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Related links:
http://www.conti-online.com
http://www.contitevesna.com
http://www.contitevesna.com/index2.htm
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/437525.html
CONTACT:
Jennifer Rass of Continental,
+1-248-393-5218, or jennifer.rass@usacontiteves.com
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