Dr Seah Kar Heng, Mechanical Engineering Professor and Faculty Advisor of the National University of Singapore Formula Racecar Project, takes us behind the scenes of his Car Factory on campus where he not only supervises the making of a lethal machine but also produces a team of engineering students to take on the world in their design-and-build Formula race cars.

For many years now, the NUS team has successfully competed in the renowned international Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) races held every May in Michigan, USA. In May 2008 and for the 3rd year running, the NUS team bagged the top prize for race car engineering design from Asia and was the only Asian team to enter the design semi-finals. This year, the international competition was held at the Michigan International Speedway.

Says Dr Seah, "this has given us great pride in our engineer-racer students who have achieved all this against difficult odds in perhaps the toughest student design-and-build competition in the world."

When asked what exactly goes into designing and building a competition-worthy Formula racecar, Dr Seah explains that designing and building a competition car combines both art and science, requiring creative innovation, problem-solving prowess, manufacturing know-how and an inquiring scientific mind in addition to the relentless pursuit of speed.

These skills are all needed to meet the challenge of designing and building a racecar from scratch and to make it as light as possible and yet be able to withstand the high stresses during racing. This requires a compromise between lightness and robustness. With a good knowledge of high-precision engineering processes and computer-aided expertise, the limit for every bolt and nut can be measured to achieve the winning result. Not a gram is wasted, and every gram is absolutely necessary.

Nothing is truer than "form follows function", and so in Formula racecars whatever does not contribute to the racing speed is omitted. Aesthetics and luxuries slow the car down; in order to be competitive, the car pared down to its most essential components, without doors, lights, windscreens or even a roof, just as a Formula race car ought to be.

"We need to be minimalist because every gram counts. We don't carry more fuel than necessary to complete a race. Neither do we design the car to last long after we cross the finish line. Every part needs to be as compact as possible to minimize the energy needed for acceleration, for braking, and to turn the car round corners. The centre of gravity must be as low as possible to maximize stability. For the safety of the driver, the chassis must withstand a violent impact in an accident at racing speed."

With regards to preparing students for competition, Dr Seah adds, "My students also double up as racers, which is the only way they can test if their engineering product is performing as originally planned. During a race, the driver undergoes very high accelerations, known as "G forces", and so a high degree of physical fitness and stamina are essential, especially in the high-speed endurance race around a continuous 22km track. Having fast reaction times and maintaining focus throughout the race are crucial."

Although FSAE racecars do not undergo VICOM checks, they do need to satisfy competition rules as well as a set "formula" governing the construction and competition, much like their Formula 1 brethren governed by the FIA (Federation Internationale d'Automobile). But unlike F1 with only one main event, the FSAE races consist of several dynamic events, each testing one aspect of the car's performance like acceleration, autocross, skid pad, endurance, and fuel economy, and static events like marketing, costing and design (which refers to how all the components of the racecar have been packaged together).

The NUS Formula SAE racecar is a multi-disciplinary project providing a "complete education", not only by training students in practical engineering and teamwork, but also equipping them with life-skills like working as a team, speaking about their project at press and media events, entertaining sponsors and giving public demonstrations of their racecar at road shows. Since they build their Formula cars from scratch, after spending three full years on this project, they will have plenty of experience operating all sorts of conventional and computer-numerical-controlled lathes, milling machines and machining centres. They also know how to weld various metals and fabricate parts made of composite materials. In addition, they will have the necessary skills to diagnose and repair any fault that appears on any part of the car after each run.

The team's success at Formula SAE has demonstrated their discipline, commitment, spirit of excellence as well as professionalism and esprit de corps, which makes them highly desirable to employers. It is hardly a surprise that team members have managed to secure job offers and the attention of numerous headhunters even before they have graduated. Many become engineers in aerospace, electronics or defence-related industries, shipping, banking, or international motor sports. A few have become pilots while others have started their own high performance engineering companies.

And the secret of their success?

Dr Seah muses, "I think the most unique feature of the FSAE racecar project is that it was first initiated by a bunch of passionate students and continued to be propagated by equally passionate students in the subsequent years. I was co-opted to be their advisor right from day one although I was not fully convinced that the project (now in its seventh year) would survive for long. For the first few years, nobody even knew that we were building Formula racecars after office hours in the workshop. For the first three years, all the funding came from the students' own pockets. Such was their level of enthusiasm. I can think of no better way to start a project of this level of difficulty and magnitude from any place except from the ground up. I believe this is the secret of NUS FSAE's success. It is founded on and driven solely by the passion of students and not forced on them by professors.

The complex demands of the FSAE racecar project plays a large role in maintaining Dr Seah's vitality, who sees each new racecar as monumental and worthwhile. "For me, supervising a team of passionate students in building Formula racecars to compete internationally marks the pinnacle of my engineering career. It is singularly the most demanding project I have undertaken."

Yet the rewards must have been sweet to Dr Seah's ears this year (2008) as his sixth NUS FSAE racecar, the "Centennial IV", emerged the best designed car from Asia for the third consecutive year. It ranked 10th out of 121 teams worldwide for racecar engineering design. It also ranked 4th in fuel economy (best in Asia) and to top it all, the team was awarded a USD500 prize for coming in 1st for its marketing presentation. Overall, they ranked 22 out of the 121 teams worldwide.

What is FSAE?

The Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) race, held annually in Michigan, USA, is a premier inter-varsity competition highly regarded around the globe. Every May, thousands of students from over a hundred universities around the world gather to showcase their new race cars. In this competition, often regarded as the toughest inter-varsity competition of its kind, students from each participating university have to build a racecar from scratch, something akin to what Formula One does, albeit on a smaller scale. The entire competition takes place over a period of five days, during which each university is judged on its race car design, safety, fuel economy, acceleration, endurance, drive-ability and value-for-money. The cost of the entire car must not exceed US$25,000 and it is meant for mass production to the tune of four cars per day. The car specifications must conform to all the requirements in the current year's FSAE rule book. These include stipulations that the engine must not exceed 610 cc and the air intake must pass through a 2 cm diameter restrictor.

Aims of the NUS FSAE Race Car Project

The NUS FSAE race car project is spearheaded by the National University of Singapore's Department of Mechanical Engineering and is strongly supported by its Faculty of Engineering as well as the University. The project was started in 2001, when a group of enterprising third year mechanical engineering students dreamed of building a racecar to participate in the FSAE competition in USA after their graduation. While it started life in this simple manner, this project has evolved into an important multi-disciplinary educational component of the Mechanical Engineering Programme. The FSAE race car project allows student team members to put into practice engineering principles which they learnt in the classroom, thus better preparing them to meet the challenges in their professional careers in the future.