Lapped in funding, students on track

UNM’s race car cruised to a top 10 finish at an international racing competition last month.

The LOBOMotorSports team placed eighth in engineering design and ninth in autocross at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineering competition in California.

Project Manager Jaik Ortiz said that this year’s car was one of the best in the class’ history.

“For the first time, we were able to build a car and program that competed on the same level as the best teams in the world,” Ortiz said. “It was a great feeling to be one of the most watched teams at the event and also have one of the best looking cars.”

Instructor John Russell said he was pleased with his students’ work.

“We were keeping up with the best of the teams,” he said.
The LOBOMotorSports team was not affected by University-wide budget cuts, and Russell said its budget increased thanks to contributions from private sponsors. Even with the increase, he said, LOBOMotorSports remained in the bottom 25 percent of funded teams at the competition.

“We are a low-budget team, but we learned to deal with it,” Russell said.

The class is a three-semester course that teaches students vehicle dynamics and engineering procedures. Students then build and test a race car, and Ortiz said the 2012 LOBOMotorSports team will begin work on next year’s car in the fall.

“After our great showing at this year’s competition, the 2012 team is mainly focusing on improving our car rather than completely designing a new one,” he said.