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Victorian Lee Mitchener will have more than just the Queensland Karting Championships on his mind when he heads to the Darling Downs region this weekend.
Mitchener, who has finished on the podium at the previous two National Karting Championships, will fly out to England on Monday to compete in the 2007 Formula SAE European Championships at the famous Silverstone circuit.
The Formula SAE competition is for Automotive Engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged.
The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to competitions for judging and comparison with colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort
Mitchener is a third year mechanical engineering student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). RMIT’s outfit is the only Australian team competing in the event which will see 115 teams from all across the world compete on the weekend following the British Formula One Grand Prix.
Mitchener’s RMIT team is the defending Australian, and World, Formula SAE Champions. Their entry is supported by Bohler Uddeholm, Kenworth, Air Interntional, Wurth, Sidchrome and Kings Fibreglass.
The Victorian believes being a part of the Formula SAE program has assisted him to gain success on the race track and will hopefully ensure he can obtain a career in motorsport as an engineer.
“I’ve always wanted to be a driver but sometimes you’ve got to look at reality and there are only a very limited number of people who can successfully make it to the top of the sport as a driver, but there are millions of people who are involved in motorsport teams across the world, ” said Mitchener.
“As a teenager I enjoyed making bits and pieces which are car related along with modifying my car which has driven me to want to become an engineer. ”
Should Mitchener be successful in his quest to become an engineer for a leading motorsport outfit he will join a number of other former kart racers who are currently involved in Australia’s highest profile form of motorsport, V8 Supercars. The Formula SAE program has been a successful launching pad for ex-karters Mark Hester, James Small and Alistair McGregor into engineering roles with Ford Performance Racing, Garry Rogers Motorsport and PWR Racing respectively.
While a career in motorsport is his ultimate goal, Mitchener’s focus, for this weekend at least, will be on the Greer Park karting circuit as he chases the Queensland Karting Championship in the Clubman Heavy category. To be victorious he will have to defeat the challenges from 31 other competitors, including Toowoomba’s Matt Greenbury and fellow Queenslanders William Yarwood and Kel Treseder.
“I’ve never actually competed on the Toowoomba circuit, about the closest I’ve got to it has been checking it out online at Google Earth, ” said Mitchener.
“It may take a little bit of time to get to know it during practice on Wednesday and Thursday, however, I’m confident by the time qualifying comes around on Friday I’ll be somewhere near the front. ”
Mitchener will be one of 400 competitors in action at this weekend’s Queensland Karting Championship at the Greer Park Raceway in Helidon this weekend. Qualifying will be held on Friday followed by heat races on Saturday with the Championship Finals being held on Sunday.
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