Image by Samuel Spencer
High school students from Kelowna got a unique experience this past week as they visited the Motorsports Design Team’s race shop. Former Kelowna Secondary (KSS) student, and now UBC Okanagan School of Engineering student Will Tanner helped coordinate the visit by students at KSS grade 11 Physics Honours class.
“This is a great way for us to engage in the community as a club, and promote local opportunities to study engineering,” says Tanner.
UBC Okanagan Motorsports is a student-run design team that designs, builds, tests and drives open-wheeled race cars to compete annually at the Student Formula Competition hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
The high schoolers toured the fabrication area and learned how components are designed and created by the team. They also were provided with demonstrations from the CAD design team, the electrical team, and got to sit behind the wheel of the team’s two past formula one style cars.
KSS teacher Jim Strachan says his students really enjoyed the experiential opportunity to learn from the Motorsports team, and in particular getting a chance to take a seat behind the wheel.
Image by Samuel Spencer
“We had fun hosting the class at our shop, and I believe it benefited everyone involved,” explains Tanner.
The Motorsports team is completing the development of their 2023 car, and looking forward to competing at the 2023 Formula SAE Michigan.
Image by Samuel Spencer