Motorsports; a battlefield that’s made from an overdose of speed and power, mixed together with passion and competition, served piping hot with deafening noise. Not many people know that here, tucked away within the pristine and peaceful surroundings of College Lane Campus, is a lair in which a beast dwells.
Prepared by an elite squad, they are regular university students, but within them lay’s the thirst for victory and performance. They are the wizards of speed and the SAS of the tracks. They are known as UH Racing and their turf is Formula SAE.
Formula SAE aka Formula Student is an international event which was created in 1978 after an argument in relation to who is capable of building the faster car. Competing teams are made out of students, supervised by lecturers, who create a formula-style car to take part in dynamic racing events of various disciplines. The teams must then sell their ideas in the form of a business presentation to generate income. For those of you that are thinking the cars are nothing more than glorified go-karts which come with assembly instructions, think again; these are mad, bespoke, single-purpose speed machines and are as ferocious as a deranged pit bull straining on its chains, impatient for that beckoning fight.
UH Racing run two cars; the Class 1 and the Class 1A – I had a look at the Class 1. A steel tubular chassis houses a highly tuned, dry slumped, inline 4,600cc Yamaha R1 engine. Regulation 20mm restrictor means power peaks at about 90bhp. Sound easy? Factor in the weight of a mere 200kg and we are looking at a power to weight ratio of around 450bhp/ton. Drive goes through a 6 speed sequential box which allows full throttle up shifts and onto the wheels via LSD. It is a full on, no-holds-barred, race car. It can sprint from 0-60mph in about 2.5 seconds (identical to the 1000bhp Bugatti Veyron) and on corners, can pull a face disfiguring 1.5g’s.
But numbers only tell half the story. The real beauty of this car is that it is designed and built entirely in-house, by students. Yes, tucked away in the automotive center, the group of 15-20 highly spirited individuals have been quietly building these beasts and stacking up trophy after trophy every year. Last year, they finished 2nd overall in Europe. What really caught my attention is that while some teams in Europe have a sport budget of up to £100,000, UH Racing has been beating them with a budget of about £20,000, half of which comes from sponsorship.
UH Racing deserves a much bigger recognition than what it has at present. Thanks to these stars, the Hertfordshire name is a force to be reckoned with, throughout international arenas. They sacrifice sleep, food, and occasionally even their sweethearts for the win. This is the true testament of how motorsport spearheads the honing of proper, industry grade, engineers. If motorsports was an ancient battlefield, then UH Racing are the Spartans.
Written by Kuhen Velusamy
Photography by Woozy Loh
I love to write for the men's lounge and interview young talented people. I believe everyone deserves a chance to be heard. My advice for you is "Keep chasing your dreams, and don't let anything or anyone stop you."
