On Tuesday 9 June 2015, a group of around twenty MCAST Mechanical Engineering students officially launched their team and the prototype open-wheel formula SAE race car designed and built from scratch by the members themselves. This student group bearing the name ‘Skuderija Dinamika’ forms a multidisciplinary team with the objectives being to design and build a single-seater race car for a world-wide professional engineering competition organised by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). In September 2016, this MCAST team of students, will be then joining several other groups from different colleges and universities around the globe to professionally present and race their car in Parma (Italy). The MCAST team, guided by Senior Lecturer Ing. Claire Seguna, has been working very hard to present the prototype.
The highlight of this project is that student members participating in this new challenge hail from various levels and course specialisation/routes offered by the MCAST Institute of Mechanical Engineering, namely Undergraduate Degree, Higher National Diploma and Extended Diploma. This project offers each team member numerous opportunities to develop oneself. It will also promote smart problem solving by allowing the students to integrate aspects of the theoretical modules and analytical solution generation that they cover during their lectures. One cannot ignore the fact that this project will present the students with an opportunity to carry out professional R&D given that the team has to abide with SAE standards and stringent engineering regulations. Furthermore, the students will be indirectly acquiring training in soft skills, such as leadership, public relations and communication, resource management, procurement, team-work and time-management, which are essential in the professional engineering world.
This is obviously easier said than done as the project involves considerable research design aspects which all require major financial contribution. The team has estimated the two-year project costs to reach €40k. Thus through this event, they are reaching out to industrial collaborators, organisations and business entities for support (financial and/or goods/services in kind) such that the students can successfully reach their academic, professional and vocational objectives. This project further sustains MCAST’s mission statement to provide universally accessible vocational and professional education and training with an international dimension, responsive to the needs of the individual and the economy as these students will be contributing to the generation of future professional vocational engineers and technicians to our island.
The Skuderija Dinamika team would like to thank its sponsors, who have made this project possible through their support.
Main Sponsors: MCAST, Ministry for Education and Employment, MCAST Gateway to Industry, Transport Malta, Coleiro Supplies Limited and MelitaMarine.