Whether you have seen them amongst the tents on Student Open Day festivals with their car on display, or in an off-guarded social media post of a faceless ‘Stig,’ what the general student public may not know is that the University of Melbourne has a not-so-secret, not-so-widely known, and somewhat misconceived perception of our Formula SAE team, Melbourne University Racing (MUR) Motorsports.

To set the record straight and properly inform the larger student body, Farrago reporter Ashley Syers sat down and got to know some of the members to address some misconceptions about their team:

Parts of these interviews have been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

What do you think are some misconceptions about MUR?

JEFFRY CHEN (Aerodynamics Engineer):

That we're like super cracked, and you need to be really talented to join?

Do you wanna elaborate?

JEFFRY CHEN (Aerodynamics Engineer):

Everything we learn in here… it's not really taught that much in our degrees. There's a misconception that you need to be good at the stuff in order to join the team, and like, yeah great, we would love that. But the reality is, we need to teach people the skills. For us to do well, we need to have a system that can not only develop people with talent in, but [also] transfer that knowledge year by year. That's honestly the biggest struggle of being an informed student: that knowledge transfer and development. So that old saying ‘oh, I don't know how much, but I'm willing to learn,’ really, is the crux of what we look for when you apply. Our goal is to win Formula Student, but we've kind of pivoted away from that to become more about student enrichment and learning these soft and hard skills. And so, a big misconception is that you need to have these skills to join. I think that causes a lot of talented people to not apply, which is annoying, because we want to corner the market of talented people because there's so many project teams around vying for the same talent.

So what is a common misconception about you and the work that you do?

BIANCA MARIANI (Lead Ergonomics Engineer):

No one realises that I'm [in] Biomedical Engineering. We do these things called external design reviews, where we present a part that we've created to alumni and people who know what they're doing. I presented the seat quite a few months ago, but everyone was really impressed at the standard of the research because I really, really cared about the driver position and posture. But I think a lot of people were very surprised that my interest in medical devices, which is how it started, is now kind of going into race cars and drivers seats. It's a little bit random, and explaining that to people is like, ‘Oh, why don't you just do mechanical?,’ but I haven't lost my love for medical devices. I just think that this is a cool thing that I'm learning a lot from faster than I'm getting from my degree.

GURMAN KAUR (Livery Lead):

I think a huge misconception has been how important [marketing] is to the development of the car. Like, yes, the engineering aspect is a huge part of it but if you don't have a car: what are you designing or what are you marketing, really? [Then] once you have that base to kind of push yourselves to the next forward, you need the University’s backing. You need sponsorship backing. How do you get that? With your exposure, how can you show [sponsors] and the Uni on how great of a team we are [and] what we're actually learning?

Are there many misconceptions about you? How does the team function internally, beyond the car?

XINGY HUANG (Team Principal):

I know a lot of people like to put Engineering students in the category of the anti-social. I would like to say that our team is probably the most social bunch of Engineering students you'd ever find, like I think some people [from the team] in like an hour or so, [are] going on a run [together]. People on a whim, just go kart together, all that kind of stuff. So, we are quite a social group, and I think that's great. I think it's really good that people are friends before they are team members as well.

CHRIS CORBETT (Chief Electrical Engineer):  

 A lot of people looking outside on the team do see us as a bit elitist, which is very interesting. I think that mainly comes about because of our recruiting process. It's pretty harsh, but that's generally because we don't really want a lot of people to come in [to] put us on the resume and then kind of f**k off, because that’s what used to happen. We want people [to] come in and do stuff, because we obviously put a lot of time into training people, giving them access to spaces, and we sort of expect that they will be there to help us out, rather than disappear. So, there is that view of elitism [that] some see us a bit cliquey. I think it is a case of that a lot of us are friends, but it is a bit intimidating looking in. But no, we are super welcoming.

BILL REN (Content and Communications Officer):

So when I tell people that I'm in this Motorsport team, they go like, ‘Oh, so you're like a bunch of nerds?’. Like, yes, they are very intelligent individuals, but they're not nerds.  They’re lovely people and, like, it is a bit of, like, a hurtful stereotype that people put on to, especially Engineering people. I guess social media gets away with it a little bit. But people in general think we're just [a] bunch of nerds who don't have a life and we walk around a car 24/7 but no, that's definitely not the case.

LUKAS ALBERT (Co-Lead Aerodynamics Engineer):

I don't speak to the public that much, but I think a lot of people underestimate the passion. People assume it might be like any other club that you join at a Uni. Maybe it's like you know, whatever, whatever Student Society and you just join… maybe you show up to a trivia night or something. A lot of people don’t even realise we actually build a car. I don't think people understand the scope of it. And so, with that comes the level of commitment and passion [from] the members, because it is quite a lot of work to get it done and there's a lot of people involved. People are always very surprised to hear how many people work on the car and how much time it takes, and how much money it takes, and how little money we have.

Anything else?

ANUSHA BALASIGAR (Lead Marketing Officer):

A big one we get is, ‘Oh, weren't you guys in first place ages ago?’ ‘Are you guys like rookies?’ or ‘aren't you guys doing quite badly?’. I feel like people expect us to perform well, but that was when it was a completely different team, different car, different engine. We were doing combustion, [but] now it's electric, and a completely new team [of students]. It's like starting a new company but having the same name.  It’s frustrating, a little, to constantly remind people that, hey, we are a new team.

We are student-run. You don't have that much support from [the] University compared to other motorsport teams, and so you can't really compare us, but I feel like we are making our names known and we are trying to prove ourselves.

Farrago Video follows MUR Motorsports' journey to the FSAE competition this December. Short documentary coming soon.