SRT Update: Oklahoma Takes 2nd Place Overall in Fontana, Calif.
Date: June 27, 2011
From: Thomas Ingram, Sooner Racing Team Captain
To: Sponsors, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Friends of the Team
Photo by Robert Story
SRT Update: Oklahoma Takes 2nd Place Overall in Fontana, CA!
The University of Oklahoma's Sooner Racing Team finished 2nd place overall at the Formula SAE - West competition in Fontana, Calif.!
61 Teams from 8 different countries showed up to Auto Club Speedway on June 15th to compete in the FSAE competition. After the static events on Thursday, SRT finished 4th place in Engineering Design, 13th in Business Sales Presentation and 19th in Cost. With a smooth first two days of competition, the team went on to the dynamic events on Friday. An unpredictable fuel issue left the car down on power for the acceleration run. Despite the lack of horsepower, we still achieved 10th place in acceleration. The team then went on to win the skidpad event! At the end of the day on Saturday, the team finished 6th place in the Autocross event.
The endurance event on Sunday saw many teams cars fail mechanically. Allison, however, performed flawlessly and came in at 5th place overall in Endurance. The reliability and performance of this year's car secured the team another 2nd place overall finish! This result marks 7 straight endurances completed without a DNF, and 6 straight top ten finishes dating back to 2008. While the new world rankings are not posted yet, we anticipate moving up from our current position of 3rd in the USA and 8th in the world!
This year’s success is bittersweet as many of our beloved seniors - the major contributors to the design of the vehicle - will be moving on to other avenues of life. Without the senior's hard work and dedication to the vitality of the team, we would not be able to continue this program with the same competitive caliber as seen this year. I am optimistic for the years to come on the team, as our new generation of talented team members rise into leadership positions to carry on the success of the Sooner Racing Team.
Finally, I have to note the contributions of our sponsors and supporters. Without them this year's success would not have been possible. With everyone's budget getting tighter each year, I am more than grateful for the generosity that was shown this year towards our program. As always, if you know anyone that would be interested in supporting our program please send them our information; we can always use as much support as we can get.
If you would like more information about the team, the competition, or how to support us, don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers,
Thomas Ingram
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Sooner Racing Team Captain