Students from the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering are set to compete in a non-stop driving challenge across the length of Britain in a bid to be crowned the nation’s most economical drivers.

Rebecca Findlay and Holly Lockhart, both members of the University’s UGRacing team, are the only all-female team to compete in the inaugural Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge. Glaswegian Rebecca, 21, studies Aeronautical Engineering and 20-year-old Holly is a Mechanical Engineering with Aeronautics student.

The competition, which is run jointly by Formula Student and Bosch, will visit 46 universities in three days of driving. Each team will drive a section of the route while having their eco-driving ability measured by on-board computers before passing the vehicle on to drivers at the next university. TheUniversity of Glasgow team will set off from the University’s main campus at 3:15am on Friday June 21, and will drive 82 miles to Dundee.

Professor John Marsh, head of the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering, said: “We’re very pleased that our engineering students are showing real enthusiasm for events such as the Eco Driving Challenge and the Formula Student competition, which offer great opportunities for putting what they’ve learned in their courses into practice. I wish Holly and Rebecca the best of luck for their section of the challenge.”

Patrick Kniveton, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers – which runs Formula Student – will flag off the event at the Institution’s Westminster headquarters at 11am.

From Westminster, the car will head to the first stop – Queen Mary, University of London in Mile End – before the route heads south along the coast and then west towards Swansea.

It will then zigzag across England and Scotland towards the final destination of Aberdeen University on June 21.

Teams will be driving a Ford Fiesta, powered by a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine, which uses Bosch common rail diesel injectors and a high-pressure Bosch fuel pump. Monitoring equipment will analyse the efficiency of each team’s driving, with three awards up for grabs, which cover city, rural and highway driving.  

The students, including three from Wales and five from Scotland, will be joined in the vehicle by an AA representative, who will help with the route and economical driving tips.

Students taking part are all involved with Formula Student 2013, taking place at at Silverstone from 4-7 July. The event challenges universities from across the world to design, build and race a single seat racing car from scratch in one year – before putting it to the test at one of the world’s greatest racetracks.

Jon Hilton, Chairman of Formula Student, said: “This is a fantastic challenge which will certainly prepare all the students for July’s competition.

It’s the first time we’ve attempted a driving challenge of this scale and I wish all the teams the best of luck.”

 Distances between universities range will from three miles to over 100 miles, but each team will be monitored equally. Prizes will be awarded at the Formula Student competition at Silverstone.

Peter Fouquet, president of Bosch UK, said: “With the help of Bosch technologies, the vehicle being used for the Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge achieves CO2 emissions of just 98g/km. In the near future, Bosch sees the potential across all vehicle segments for even greater CO2 emissions reductions – of up to 20 percent in some cases.”

During the Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge, drivers will use the Bosch Car Multimedia division’s satellite navigation app, as well as a data logger from Bosch’s subsidiary, ETAS. Shell is generously supplying FuelSave diesel for this Challenge.

Find out more

• School of Engineering
• UGRacing - University of Glasgow Racing team

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For more information contact Ross Barker in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 3535 or email ross.barker@glasgow.ac.uk

 

Notes to Editors

Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, is the world’s largest student motorsport event, challenging students from around the world to design, build and race a single-seater racing car from scratch. A total of 149 student teams from 32 countries have registered for Formula Student 2013, 54 of which are from UK universities. The University of Glasgow is represented by its team UGRacing in the Formula Student competition.

First published: 19 June 2013