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July 17, 2007

We Are the Champions

University racing team hosts, sweeps weekend competition

Story by: Ray Edward Buffington IV

The Shorthorn staff

The Shorthorn: Robert Rodriguez

Team captain Eric Leichtle races the Formula SAE car during the Texas Autocross Weekend on Saturday in Lot 49. Blurb

The university’s Formula SAE team left its competitors in the dust this weekend by taking first in all events at the seventh annual Texas Autocross Weekend.

Colleges from Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and other states came to the university and Fort Worth’s Texas Motor Speedway to test student-built race cars in a two-day competition.

The racers revved up on campus Saturday in an empty Lot 49 as each team quickly wove their open-wheel racers through a cone track, each competing for the best time.

The university’s team won the morning slow track and the afternoon fast track races, with Texas A&M University hot on its wheels, said team adviser Bob Woods, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor.

“Texas A&M was definitely competitive,” he said. “I would say they were our biggest challenge this year.”

A&M may have been trying too hard to catch up with the university’s team.

Team member Drew Waller, a mechanical engineering junior, said he was nearby when the Aggie team flipped one of its cars while running through a track. The car rolled over, but the driver was unhurt.

“The roll-guard did everything it was supposed to, and he just walked out of it,” Waller said.

Team captain Eric Leichtle, a mechanical engineering junior, said the driver was fine and the races continued, with Texas A&M winning second place in the morning track.

The Shorthorn: Robert Rodriguez

Nathan Christiansen, mechanical and aerospace engineering junior, works on the university Formula SAE car Saturday in Lot 49. The team placed first in all events at the Texas Autocross Weekend.

On Sunday, the competition moved to Texas Motor Speedway, where the racers competed autocross style.

Again, the university’s team sped past the others to first place, taking the honor and “bragging rights,” according to Leichtle, for Best Time of the Day.

Woods said that of the years the event has been active, 2006 was the only year his team didn’t win first place in the Saturday event.

He said he was happy with this year’s results either way.

“Everybody had a great time,” he said. “They got to do some things that they never get to do at their [schools]. They got to experience and talk to other teams and learn a lot — maybe a little too much.”

Leichtle, one of the winning drivers, said he had a great time and looks forward to upcoming races.

The team’s next competition is the Sports Car Club of America Divisionals on Aug. 17, followed by the September Nationals in Topeka.