Swansea Met Motorsport Team World Beaters 
The future of British motorsport is safe in the hands of the Swansea Metropolitan University (Wales, UK) Formula Student Team, who have confirmed themselves as one of the best student motorsport teams in the world after the 2009 Formula Student competition at Silverstone, on the weekend.
Formula Student, the biggest student motorsport competition in the world, promotes careers and excellence in engineering, by challenging students to design, build, develop, market and compete as a team with a small single seater racing car. It blends academic work and learning with the development of practical engineering skills.
This year’s international competition saw over eighty university teams from across the world converge onto the famous home of British motorsport, Silverstone. Each competition car was rigorously tested in areas such as endurance, speed and business viability.
Following an impressive top ten global finish last year, becoming the first and only Welsh University to be seeded, Swansea Met saw off stiff competition to maintain its position as the top Welsh team, secure a place in the UK top three and tenth in the world rankings.
First year automotive and motorsport electronic systems student and team member, Nisarg Bhatt from Ahmedabad, India said: “As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. Many of the teams were made up of about 40 team members, where we were a team of just 15. In the face of such competition, the spectacular result we achieved is proof that teamwork can prevail and that size, both in personnel and budget, doesn’t matter.
“This was such a close, competitive competition. Last year, the gap between first and second place was 150 points. This year, the gap between first place and us in tenth was just 150 points.”
First year motorsport engineering and design student and team member, Morgan Percy from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada added: “This fantastic result is testament to the fact that people with a variety of different backgrounds from around the world can come together and achieve something against the odds.
“We are all grateful for the generosity of our sponsors. There have been many individual companies who have helped us this year and we hope they enjoy this success.”
The event is the biggest of its kind in the world and is sponsored by big names in the automotive field such as Shell, National Instruments and the IET.
The speed of a Formula Student car is parallel to that of a super car, with a 0-60 speed of 3.5 seconds, and is produced at a cost of £15,000. The production of this car was partly achieved with kind sponsorship from a number of national and international companies.
Head of Automotive Engineering Roger Dowden explains: “This is a huge result for the guys and their world ranking does justice to the time and effort they have given. There has been a lot of interest in their success after this weekend and to be the highest of the post-1992 universities is a massive achievement.”
Swansea Met Vice Chancellor, Professor David Warner, added: “Swansea Metropolitan University is very proud of the design, mechanical and management skills of its motorsport students. "
Further information on Swansea Metropolitan University is available here
Information on the School of Automotive Engineering is available here