Post by cwinter on Sept 26, 2012 15:03:57 GMT -6
Hi everyone,
Last week I attended my Alma Matta (UNT), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Engineering Technology Department that I graduated from. The department traces its roots back to the early 1900s but officially has only existed with its current name for 20 years. I was invited both as a graduate and member of the industry advisory board.
One thing caught my eye when I was there that I had not seen before. The department now has a racing team! (http://www.saeunt.com/) Very curious about his I started to talk to the students involved and learned one of the members is a former technician that went through BMW training and worked at BMW of Las Vegas for a while. Now they really had my attention!
What UNT is doing is starting to compete in Formula SAE. SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers and Formula SAE mixes engineering challenge with racing and business wits. It is really a cool program! You can learn more about it here (http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/about.htm).
In a nutshell, college teams build a single seater race car from the ground up. Most school design as much as possible themselves. This being UNTs first design they used some off the shelved components (a Honda 600cc motorcycle engine, and readily available suspension parts), but the big teams build almost everything themselves, including the use of extensive carbon fiber. Some of these cars get quite expensive!
The schools then enter these cars in competitions and win points by building the cheapest car, the fastest car through an AutoX course, the most viable business plan, and a longevity test. Man, I wish I was still in school to compete, this is really neat stuff.
That being said, all this costs money and what the team primarily lacks right now is sponsorship. Their current projected budget is about $45,000 and they received many individual donations. What they lack is some real sponsorship.
Here is where I hope the club can help. The industry I work in is far removed from the automotive industry, so there is little I can do with my connections to help these guys out. I'm hoping the club members may have some ideas of how to obtain sponsorship.
1) Does the BMW CCA on the national level or the Lone Star Chapter sponsor any such endeavors? If so, who do I and/or they need to talk to?
2) Do any of you work in the automotive industry for companies that might be interested in sponsoring such a team? Any contributions are tax deductible?
3) Does anyone have good ideas for fundraisers?
In short, I want to get these guys hooked up with automotive professionals and/or companies that might want commit to a sponsorship deal. What I've seen in the past is that if one name appears on the car soon others will follow. UTA has a very successful program and their car is PLASTERED with advertisement. UNT has no main sponsor so far that I know and a lot of donations have come from participating students. Let's help these guys get his program off the ground and keep their love for cars and engineering alive!
All and any help, input, comments are appreciated.
Thanks,
Christian
Last week I attended my Alma Matta (UNT), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Engineering Technology Department that I graduated from. The department traces its roots back to the early 1900s but officially has only existed with its current name for 20 years. I was invited both as a graduate and member of the industry advisory board.
One thing caught my eye when I was there that I had not seen before. The department now has a racing team! (http://www.saeunt.com/) Very curious about his I started to talk to the students involved and learned one of the members is a former technician that went through BMW training and worked at BMW of Las Vegas for a while. Now they really had my attention!
What UNT is doing is starting to compete in Formula SAE. SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers and Formula SAE mixes engineering challenge with racing and business wits. It is really a cool program! You can learn more about it here (http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/about.htm).
In a nutshell, college teams build a single seater race car from the ground up. Most school design as much as possible themselves. This being UNTs first design they used some off the shelved components (a Honda 600cc motorcycle engine, and readily available suspension parts), but the big teams build almost everything themselves, including the use of extensive carbon fiber. Some of these cars get quite expensive!
The schools then enter these cars in competitions and win points by building the cheapest car, the fastest car through an AutoX course, the most viable business plan, and a longevity test. Man, I wish I was still in school to compete, this is really neat stuff.
That being said, all this costs money and what the team primarily lacks right now is sponsorship. Their current projected budget is about $45,000 and they received many individual donations. What they lack is some real sponsorship.
Here is where I hope the club can help. The industry I work in is far removed from the automotive industry, so there is little I can do with my connections to help these guys out. I'm hoping the club members may have some ideas of how to obtain sponsorship.
1) Does the BMW CCA on the national level or the Lone Star Chapter sponsor any such endeavors? If so, who do I and/or they need to talk to?
2) Do any of you work in the automotive industry for companies that might be interested in sponsoring such a team? Any contributions are tax deductible?
3) Does anyone have good ideas for fundraisers?
In short, I want to get these guys hooked up with automotive professionals and/or companies that might want commit to a sponsorship deal. What I've seen in the past is that if one name appears on the car soon others will follow. UTA has a very successful program and their car is PLASTERED with advertisement. UNT has no main sponsor so far that I know and a lot of donations have come from participating students. Let's help these guys get his program off the ground and keep their love for cars and engineering alive!
All and any help, input, comments are appreciated.
Thanks,
Christian