Cornell Wins Formula SAE(R) Automotive Design Competition

    PONTIAC, Mich., May 24 Cornell University put it all
together to outrun and outlast 125 collegiate engineering teams and easily win
the 2001 Formula SAE(R) Competition.  Cornell, which along with the University
of Texas at Arlington (UTA) have combined to dominate the 21-year old event,
visited the winner's circle after a two year drought in which they had
finished an uncharacteristic 13th in 2000 and a respectable third place in
1999.  UTA finished sixth this year and last won in 1996.  Cornell bested
runners up University of Missouri - Columbia by a whopping 105 points -- 904
to 799.
    "Although there are many high quality engineering programs at Formula
SAE(R) every year, it seems like Cornell and UTA manage to rise to the top on
a consistent basis," said Bob Sechler, Manager of SAE Educational Relations.
"And it's not like they're winning against a depleted field either.  We're
getting over 120 teams every year, and they all come here to win."
    Cornell took US$6,750 and numerous non-monetary winnings home to Ithaca,
NY in addition to the SAE Foundation Cup trophy.  Cornell won top honors for
best drivetrain, optimized design, best autocross performance, and best
overall track performance in addition to a third place award for engine
management systems.
    University of Missouri - Columbia had their best finish ever, taking home
more than US$2,000 and besting third place Ohio State University by 23 points.
Rounding out the top ten finishers were: fourth place Wisconsin, defending
champions Texas A&M in fifth, Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS), Dartmouth
College, UTA, University of Waterloo, and Clemson University.  For a complete
list of events and results visit the Formula SAE(R) website page at
http://www.sae.org/students/fsaeresu.htm.
    ETS (Quebec) and Waterloo (Ontario) were the highest finishing Canadian
schools.  University of Leeds (U.K.) won a number of design awards and took
away US$4,000, but they experienced electrical problems prior to the
acceleration run and slipped to 14th overall.
    Sechler noted the bar keeps rising as the number of contenders grows.
"Leeds is one of those schools that has really come on strong since they first
came to Formula SAE(R) in 1997.  Texas A&M has had three strong showings in
succession.  Wisconsin now has two top five finishes in a row and Rochester
Institute of Technology and Akron have always brought cars capable of winning
the event."  The 2001 competition featured cars from Mexico, Japan, Korea,
Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as Canada and the U.S.
    With their win, Cornell takes the Formula SAE(R) championship back to
Ithaca for a sixth time.  UTA has the most championships with seven.  No other
school has more than one win in the event's 21-year history.
    Formula SAE(R) is widely recognized as the international championship of
college engineering.  For the eighth consecutive year Formula SAE(R) was
sponsored by a consortium made up of manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and
DaimlerChrysler.  Their support, along with the support of hundreds of
volunteers from their companies and other top automotive organizations has
enabled Formula SAE(R) to expand and flourish during that time.
    Some individual category award winners for the Formula SAE(R) 2001 event:

    Overall winners: Cornell University
    Cost event winners: University of Cincinnati
    Best presentation: Rochester Institute of Technology
    Best engineering design: University of Waterloo
    Acceleration event winners: Ohio State University
    Skid-Pad event winners: Cornell University
    Autocross event winners: Cornell University
    Endurance/Economy event winners: Cornell University

    For more information about Formula SAE(R) and other student design
competitions, log on to our website at http://www.sae.org, or contact Lori Pail at
724/772-8534, or e-mail her at lorile@sae.org.

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