Steady progress for FSA UCT

The Formula Student Africa (FSA) team at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is making steady progress as they prepare for their first competition later this year.

The FSA UCT Team project advances UCT’s Vision 2030 by fostering diverse and creative student innovation, hands-on engineering excellence, and transformative and sustainable education through competitive car design. It also encourages research that addresses complex contemporary issues. Speaking to UCT News, Phoenix Tennant, who currently leads the team, said: “While the design work is nearly complete, we are currently finalising an engine purchase – a crucial step that will allow us to lock in and validate our final model before we start the physical build. We’re aiming to kick off construction during the June/July vacation, with our sights set on our first competition this November at Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria.

“We’ve seen an incredible amount of support lately. On top of the technical and financial backing from our sponsors, we’ve recently gained the support of the dean of [the faculty of] Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE), which is a massive vote of confidence for the future of UCT Racing.

“Where we need support is professional supervision. Safety is paramount when you’re building a car from scratch. Even though our team is technically strong, we need senior professionals who can work with us to validate our designs and ensure we’re using all our equipment to the highest possible standard.”

“Since nobody gets academic credit for this, everyone is here purely out of passion and a desire to push themselves.”

Tennant added: “It’s worth noting that for our first build, we are focusing entirely on an internal combustion engine. Given the South African context, this is a much more practical and achievable starting point for the team. While I personally hope to see us expand into electric vehicles (EVs) in the coming years, for now, we’ll be powering our vision with a 600cc bike engine.”

He leads a team of over 50 students, all working in different units – from electrical to mechanical and everything in between.

Ecosystem

“Tracking a project of this scale is inherently difficult. We currently have nearly 70 members working on components where safety and performance are critical. To manage this, we’ve implemented a very clear structure: 10 sub-teams, each with a lead responsible for specific tasks. Our core mechanical, electrical, and business leads keep the big picture on track; and our dedicated business team has been a huge help in refining our overall project management.”

He continued: “I’m incredibly lucky to lead a group of students who are naturally talented and highly motivated. Since nobody gets academic credit for this, everyone is here purely out of passion and a desire to push themselves. I haven’t had to do much to ‘force’ teamwork; my main role has been doing the work to make sure everyone knows that this group can achieve great things, even against the odds.

“The Formula Student South Africa ecosystem has been doing really well lately. The University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology, and Nelson Mandela University all seem to be doing great work too and hopefully we’ll get official announcements from some other universities soon.”