Students find the winning formula
A team of engineering students from University of Wolverhampton are getting a taste of life in the fast lane.
The nine-strong student race group are currently helping to maintain a Formula Renault 2.0 race car which is being driven in the Monoposto 2000 Championship.
The team, which is part way through its first season in the 14-race competition, have formed the pit crew behind professional driver Shane Kelly and they have helped him reach fourth place in the championship so far.
They have also visited some of the world's most famous race tracks including legendary British venues Silverstone and Brands Hatch as well as Spafrancorchamps .
And they have savoured the winning feeling on two occasions, helping Kelly triumph both at Silverstone and at Snetterton earlier this year as well as claiming three further podium finishes in the 10 races they have contested.
The idea of the team is to enable students to gain real industry experience alongside studying for their engineering degree.
It is the first year that the project has been run and the experiences provided could help students become professional motorsport engineers in the future.
University of Wolverhampton's principle lecturer for motorsport engineering David Tucker said: "The students all have different jobs.
"One will look at data, one at tyre pressure, one at aerodynamic performance for example.
"Their job is to analyse the car and to get the best possible performance they can out of it using their engineering skills."
Two races of the series remain and the team will be back out at Donnington next weekend before finishing at Oulton Park in October. The university will launch a new BEng Motorsport engineering degree next month.
