[Spridgets] racing content; no LBC content

[corvallis at peoplepc.com]

CORVALLIS, Ore.- The Global Formula Racing team at Oregon State University
recently won for the third consecutive year at Michigan International
Speedway, considered the national championship of Formula SAE
<http://search.kval.com/default.aspx?ct=r&q=Formula%20SAE>  racing - the
only time this has ever happened. 

OSU's racing team, which is a collaboration of OSU and Duale Hochschule
Baden-Wurttemberg-Ravensburg in Germany, received the first place overall
award as well as three first place titles in engineering design, endurance,
and the SAE Spirit of Excellence.
 
There were 120 teams from around the world at this competition, entering 106
vehicles. 

Participants came from the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Finland,
Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

"This is the first time in the history of the Michigan race that a
university has won for three consecutive years," said Robert Stone,
professor and interim head of the School of Mechanical, Industrial and
Manufacturing Engineering at OSU. "It's a great accomplishment." 

OSU's team, composed mostly of students from the College of Engineering, has
been extraordinarily successful in Formula SAE racing in recent years. This
sport is extremely popular in Europe, where almost every university sponsors
a team, and OSU has also dominated many universities with strong teams in
the Midwest, the historic home of the nation's automotive industry. 

Cars in Formula SAE racing are judged on such factors as cost, innovation,
acceleration, design and other aspects. Students spend thousands of hours
working on the vehicles and in the process learn skills in aerodynamics,
chassis construction and mechanical engineering as well as business
development and fund raising. 

Formula SAE racing is organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

(Bill in Corvallis, Oregon)