Setting the Pace: Keeping up with VU Motorsports
Obinna Ubabukoh
Issue date: 1/31/06 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image Edition]
Featheringill Hall was constructed to contain and serve Vanderbilt's most innovative thinkers and designers in the fields of engineering and computer science. However, perhaps its most impressive synthesis of these concepts sits past the glass windows of the machine shop. With four wheels, a black fiberglass body, and the ability of reaching speeds of up to 120 mph with a 600cc Honda motorcycle engine, many familiar with Featheringill will quickly recognize the Formula style racecar constructed by Vanderbilt University's Motorsports (VUM) club. As it awaits the final modifications until it is ready to be road tested, the car gives no appearance of speed as it lies there silent and stark naked without its body. Truly, the moment the ignition is turned and it completes its first lap there will be tremendous feeling of vindication and joy in the hearts of the motor club's members.
VUM has come to represent not only the intellectual capabilities of Vanderbilt students, but also their resourcefulness, innovation, and passion. Perhaps more than any other organization on campus, the members of this group combine their academic knowledge with other skills not just to build a vehicle, but to challenge themselves and prepare for future careers. It was founded in 1998 by Phil Davis, a resident research engineer and shop manager at Vanderbilt who had seen such projects implemented in other schools. However, the involvement of students was key to its inception. Davis admits that it was his seniors who approached him about building a Mini-Baja car like other schools done. From there, VU Motorsports would be founded and eventually find itself competing with other programs internationally in the construction and racing of Formula style cars. Over the next seven years, the club's membership would grow and their efforts would pay off as recently as last summer, where in England the Vanderbilt team was able to hold its own among the top teams in the world and gain an invaluable experience.
Featheringill Hall was constructed to contain and serve Vanderbilt's most innovative thinkers and designers in the fields of engineering and computer science. However, perhaps its most impressive synthesis of these concepts sits past the glass windows of the machine shop. With four wheels, a black fiberglass body, and the ability of reaching speeds of up to 120 mph with a 600cc Honda motorcycle engine, many familiar with Featheringill will quickly recognize the Formula style racecar constructed by Vanderbilt University's Motorsports (VUM) club. As it awaits the final modifications until it is ready to be road tested, the car gives no appearance of speed as it lies there silent and stark naked without its body. Truly, the moment the ignition is turned and it completes its first lap there will be tremendous feeling of vindication and joy in the hearts of the motor club's members.
VUM has come to represent not only the intellectual capabilities of Vanderbilt students, but also their resourcefulness, innovation, and passion. Perhaps more than any other organization on campus, the members of this group combine their academic knowledge with other skills not just to build a vehicle, but to challenge themselves and prepare for future careers. It was founded in 1998 by Phil Davis, a resident research engineer and shop manager at Vanderbilt who had seen such projects implemented in other schools. However, the involvement of students was key to its inception. Davis admits that it was his seniors who approached him about building a Mini-Baja car like other schools done. From there, VU Motorsports would be founded and eventually find itself competing with other programs internationally in the construction and racing of Formula style cars. Over the next seven years, the club's membership would grow and their efforts would pay off as recently as last summer, where in England the Vanderbilt team was able to hold its own among the top teams in the world and gain an invaluable experience.