I just barely got my October issue!
Photograph Courtesy UGA Motorsports
Deep within the Driftmier School of Engineering at the University of Georgia, past the classrooms and offices, beyond the student study rooms, and behind the metalworking, woodworking and machine shops sits a garage with two cars and a whole lot of stuff.
This is home to the University of Georgia’s ChampCar team. In collaboration with the UGA Formula SAE team, they make up UGA Motorsports.
And this club is pretty new on campus.
UGA Motorsports started in 2014 as a group of automotive enthusiasts who wanted to make it official. Student Sam Hepburn reached out to a professor, and several other students came forward with interest.
Dr. John Mativo, associate professor in workforce education, stepped in as their faculty sponsor, and they officially formed the Society of Automotive Engineers at UGA.
Then, club member Ahnna-Leisha Stover donated her old 1999 Ford Mustang. Suddenly the group had direction as it began to work on the donated car. Shop nights were hosted to teach other students about
automotive engineering.
Another Mustang was donated to the club by one of its faculty advisors, Dr. Mark Trudgen, and the momentum continued. Members collected tools and equipment as they focused mainly on small jobs and hosting shop nights, funded in part by the engineering college and private donors. The students even hosted “Mario Kart” tournaments to raise money for their projects.
Over the next few years, UGA Motorsports grew into a successful club that offers a practical way for students to apply their classroom skills.
I just barely got my October issue!
In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
No rest for the weary!
Also, I went to UGA. Back then, we didn't have an engineering school. Or a race team. And we walked to class. Uphill. Both ways.
Seriously, this one came together during my "pro in residence" visit in the fall. Thank you, Mark, for introducing me to the team as well as the j-school student who wrote the piece.
Utah was the first college team to finish first overall in a ChampCar race. Those guys pulled off a miracle.
https://www.uvu.edu/news/2019/07/07302019_automotive.html?fbclid=IwAR3SWm1Y7
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Just to set the record straight, engineering at UGA is nothing new. I graduated in 99 from the engineering school - and UGA was actually the original engineering school in Georgia before Georgia Tech existed. Driftmier is just way down at the end of campus so no one knows it's there. Sure wish we'd had some auto sports clubs back when I attended!
In reply to 99DawgEngr :
Thank you for the info. I know that UGA opened an engineering college in 2012, but what school existed before that? Or was it ag engineering? I was there from 1988 through 1992. Good times. Then I moved to Atlanta. My neighbors went to Tech. I got to use their bowling alley.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
No rest for the weary!
Also, I went to UGA. Back then, we didn't have an engineering school. Or a race team. And we walked to class. Uphill. Both ways. Through 6' of snow.
Seriously, this one came together during my "pro in residence" visit in the fall. Thank you, Mark, for introducing me to the team as well as the j-school student who wrote the piece.
FYP, David.
You did go to UGA back when there was an ice age, right?
In reply to alfadriver :
Oh, totally. But the school is older: chartered in 1785.
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