University of Canterbury Motorsport chasing EV Land Speed Record.
Sixteen members of the University of Canterbury Motorsport (UCM) club, most of them in their final year of Engineering degrees, have spent 2022 building a 7.5-metre-long car they hope will break a record of 329 km/h currently held by an American university. Here’s the inspiring story from the perspective of Kaenan Ferguson:
2022 has been an exciting year for the team at University of Canterbury Motorsport (UCM). From competing with our latest electric FSAE vehicle to building an electric under 500 kg land speed streamliner, there have definitely been very few dull days for this year’s team.
The club’s vehicle, UCM35, was unveiled at a launch event at the University of Canterbury Students
Association Ngaio Marsh Theatre on the 21st of November. The race car features a red, black and
gold livery plus the number 35. These were Burt Munro’s colours and number when at the age of 68,
he set a new official land-speed record (184mph) racing his heavily modified Indian Scout
Streamliner at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.
UCM has entered the land speed arena after wanting to explore a new adventure within motorsport.
The team plans to compete with UCM35 at the Dry Lake Racers Australia competition in March 2023
before entering Bonneville Speed Week in August. Both events are held in high regard within the
land speed community. Still, the team understands they need to learn from each opportunity they
get while operating on the salt.
A highlight of the 2022 UCM calendar was the Canterbury Evolocity event held at Burnside High
School. UCM was honoured to be invited to this event and showcase our latest FSAE vehicle,
UCM21, a fully electric independent 4-wheel drive (so 4 separate electric motors – one per wheel)
open-wheel race car. The event was a great success, and the vehicles created by students were
innovative and built to a high quality. The UCM team were amazed by the students’ capabilities and
only wished they had been able to achieve what they could at their age.
For now, the UCM team sets its eyes on the Formula Student competition held in Winton, Australia.
Aiming to overcome past challenges of UCM teams gone by and hopefully deliver a great result for
all of UCM’s supporters. We look forward to sharing this adventure with you all and hopefully seeing
you again next year at the Evolocity competition.
Ko te hiahia kia angitu koe i to wa kei te heke mai.
Kaenan Ferguson
Team Principal of the University of Canterbury Motorsport team, who design and build formula-style race cars to compete in the Formula SAE competition.
