Despite it being the school vacations, the chance to sit in a talk by Red Bull Racing'Â’s Head of Car Engineering, Paul Monaghan, proved too good to miss.

Attracting some 200 engineering students from the National University of Singapore, the auditorium at the engineering faculty was packed on Tuesday, 21 September 2010. After all, it is not everyday that a local university can get a Formula One team member to share their experiences and knowledge. And what better way to inspire a new generation of hopeful race-car engineers then having a real Formula One engineering expert share his experience and knowledge?

During the one hour interactive session, Monaghan frequently stopped to quiz students and ask for their opinions on car-design decisions, and touching on topics ranging from the implications of F1 race regulations on car design to why gearboxes made from carbon are used, as well as keeping the audience enthralled throughout with his British wit and humour.

Besides sharing his insight into the world of Formula One racing and race engineering, Monaghan, a former Race Engineer for reigning and former Formula One champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso at Renault, also gave pointers to the NUS Formula Society of Automotive Engineering (FSAE) team on possible improvements to their home-made formula racing car.

Led by Associate Professor Seah Kar Heng, the NUS FSAE race car project is the pride and joy of NUSÂ’ Faculty of Engineering, having started in 2001 to participate in the annual FSAE inter-varsity competition organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers, in which undergraduate students design and build Formula-style (open-wheeled and open-cockpit) race cars and race in them. The FSAE competition is held annually in Michigan, USA, in May and the NUS FSAE team has done Singapore proud by achieving some notable results in recent years. In 2009, the NUS FSAE race car was placed 19 overall out of 119 registered teams worldwide and best in Asia.

Somewhat similar to Formula One, the FSAE teams have to build a race car from scratch, albeit on a much smaller scale compared to the likes of operations at Red Bull Racing or even sister team Toro Rosso. The FSAE race cars are judged on design, safety, fuel economy, acceleration, endurance, drive-ability and value-for-money. While the Formula One teams operate on multi-million dollar budgets, the NUS FSAE team works on a modest S$200,000 each year, inclusive of costs for raw materials as well as the cost of participating in the FSAE competition (including freight, flight and race insurance).