Oxford Brookes University's motor racing team has been successful in gaininga coveted £5,000 travel grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering,enabling the team to enter this year's Formula SAE Competition in the UnitedStates. The grant will cover the cost of transporting the Oxford Brookesracing car to and from the competition event, to be held in May in Detroit,Michigan.

An official cheque presentation ceremony will take place at 1pm on 19 April2004 at Silverstone race track. This will be the first time Oxford Brookes has entered the Formula SAEcompetition, although the racing team has had recent success with theFormula Student competition, winning the title of best UK team, the CostEvent, and coming fifth in the world in July last year

The Formula SAE competition is designed to challenge final year automotivestudents across the world. As the event is being held outside of the UK, thegrant from the Royal Academy of Engineering enables the Oxford Brookesracing team to transport the car to the event in the United States. Duringthe competition the car will be put through a series of tests, such as theskid pad event, the endurance event and a test of fuel economy.

The Brookes team, one of only a handful of teams from British Universitiesentered into the event, has been challenged to design and build a racingcar. The teams will have to meet specifications laid down by SAE, but apartfrom that it is a challenge of creativity, experience and knowledge.

The car they are entering this year is the ISIS 03B, with a new rearsubframe giving reduced weight and increased rigidity. It has a brand newTriumph Daytona 600 engine with in house designed dry sump conversion withMotec ECU. The ISIS 03B car will feature a data logging system that willallow designers this year and next to develop the car.