UTA Racing Formula SAE Team

The Pontiac Silverdome was the site for the 104 competitors. In 1998 we invited Dr. Make McDermott from Texas A&M and his newly formed team to UTA and we coached them in (what would turn out to be too many) details of how to win. In 1999 they won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2000 they won the event. Carroll Smith announced publicly that “Dr. McDermott should not believe anything else Dr. Woods tells you… he will lie to you…” UTA had a cast aluminum upright in the rear that was tapped with a fine thread without using a Helicoil. When a team member was doing a final nut and bolt check, he felt the bolt give way and he thought he shouldn’t tighten it anymore. It came loose in the endurance and we were pulled off the track. We had such a lead that we still placed 15th. Australia hosted their first event in 1999 for local teams only. In 2000 they reluctantly opened it up for international teams. They had trophies for domestic and international entries. There were 9 teams at the competition. UTA put down a record of 1.34 lateral g’s on the skid pad that stood until recently. UTA won the international category.