Schulich Racing hosts Western Canadian Shootout 2011

Schulich Racing hosts Western Canadian Shootout 2011

Schulich Racing team: Grant Cechmanek, David Haehlen, Duncan Schuett, Marshall Staples, Mathieu Boulanger, Matthew Schroeder, Tyler Cowan, Derek Ebeling, Shaun Sidhu, Taylor Swailes, Theola Leung, Matthew Glanzer, Trevor Miles, Allen Sandwell; sitting on the tire, Owen Thomas; in the car, Shawn Madro. Photo courtesy Schulich Racing.From zero to 100 kilometres per hour in under four seconds. The University of Calgary's race car SR-13 tore up the track at the 2011 Western Canadian Shootout on August 27 and 28, posting a top lap time of 58.484s, good enough for second fastest in the time trials.

The University of Calgary hosted the annual competition featuring cars designed and built by university students. Races took place at the Calgary Kart Racing Club and included teams from the University of Alberta, taking top spot with a time of 56.9s., and the University of Saskatchewan.

The Schulich Racing team roster consists of 40 students in various faculties, the majority from the Schulich School of Engineering. In addition to designing the car, they handle marketing, sponsorship, fundraising and community involvement. This is the team's 11th season.

This year's car underwent a complete overhaul compared to last year's model. It was designed with the latest software using computational fluid dynamics to reduce drag and allow it to take corners more aggressively. It is lighter than the last car because the team used a lighter frame and aluminum wheel assemblies instead of steel.

"We have been able to simulate the behavior of the car in different scenarios in order to optimize the design resulting in a lighter, more ergonomic, stronger, easier to maintain, safer and more driver friendly car," says team manager Shawn Madro.

There are university-level racing teams throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. The goal is to challenge students to design and build single-seat, open-style racecars that demonstrate exceptional handling, acceleration and braking capabilities. The cars must be attractive, safe and reliable, which requires knowledge in virtually every area of engineering and product design.

Sponsors of the 2011 Schulich Racing team are: the Schulich School of Engineering, Pi Research, Cosworth Electronics LLC., BRC Engineering & Manufacturing, APEGGA, Devon Energy Corporation, Replicate Designs Inc., Anduro Marketing, Canadian Pacific Railway, Cutpick Energy Inc., Honda, G&K Services, Big Chief Meat Snacks Inc., Calspan, Calgary Kart Racing Club, Lafarge, Plasti-Fab, Ricardo Software, Saxon Energy Services Inc., Dessault Systems Inc., WhiteCap Resources Inc., VR3 Engineering, Optimum G, OS Photo, Henkel Adhesives and Xerox.

Follow the progress of the Schulich Racing team on Facebook: facebook.com/schulichracing