Our racing team, the Iron Ringers, consists of a core group of four UBC Okanagan Applied Science alumni, with a special fellow alumni guest every year. After graduation, our lives diverged and we became less connected. The creation of the team in 2022 formed the basis to reconnect and create shared experiences, like we had in school. Access to funding for a special night in the shop working on and developing the car was a great opportunity. With the promise of free food, kindly provided with generosity by the UBC Alumni Development team, it was reason enough to drag everyone out of the mundane ritual of everyday life. Instead of worrying about chores or making dinner we worried about the timing of our engine, improving our seating position, and tidying up our roll cage.
Our night was an impromptu adventure, driving around town, collecting parts, buying tools, fueling our car and our team. There is no better lubrication for smiles than a road trip, and this held true for our night of shenanigans. Though we had clear goals in mind, we had a lot of fun getting there. When we arrived back to the shop, we were armed with our parts, tools, and most importantly, pizza!
A brief time troubleshooting the engine timing left us with more questions than answers. Ever since the engine was replaced, an action necessitated due to one of the team members blowing the engine up during a race last year, it has been underperforming and not responding to throttle inputs properly. With a lot of work on the docket, we split into different teams, fueled up and ready to work. One team was responsible for the seat improvements, while one was responsible with deep diving into the engine issues. With our jobs laid out in front of us, and the materials on hand we set to work with renewed vigour.
As we toiled through the night, we enjoyed each other’s company. We reminisced about times past, told stories, and shared memories. By having a common goal, and a reason to break up our busy lives, we added colour and richness to our day. The spark that lit the fire was the University of British Columbia, not only for their generosity with funding our activity, but also for being an amazing place to learn, make friends, and develop as engineers and as peers.
Submitted by Bentley Beckley, BASc '19
