Cougar Motorsports team impresses

Posted: July 23, 2012 11:30 a.m.

Cougar Motorsports buggy catching some air.
Cougar Motorsports buggy catching some air. Photo: Courtesy of Cougar Motorsports

What looks like a one-person dune buggy, has a 10 horsepower engine and can hit speeds of 65 kilometres-an-hour?  It’s the Cougar Motorsports team vehicle, and in only its second year, the team, and the car have put together some impressive results.  At a competition in Portland, Oregon in May, the team finished in 3rd place in a four hour endurance race. And at another competition in Madison, Wisconsin in June, the team finished in 2nd spot out of 114 teams in a mud bog race. 

“We were up against France, India, South America. They come from around the world,” said team member Luke Shaheen. “It says something when you can compete at an international level against schools that have been doing this for 10 to 20 years, and really give them a run for their money.”

The team is run through the Engineering department, but is open to all students at the University. Students must design and build a single seat off road vehicle according to a very strict, 63-page rule book and then compete against other schools from around the world. 

“The biggest thing would be the project management, working with other people. Really collaborating and directing a vision,” said Shaheen, a fourth-year Business student. “It’s been huge networking. The project was done on a $26 thousand budget, and a lot of that was corporate sponsors, so we built some pretty close ties with local business owners.”

Shaheen says the future looks bright for the team heading into next season, and this year’s impressive results have put the team squarely in the sights of other schools from around the globe.

“They all know us now. They were talking to us, and sitting with us at the banquet. They know exactly who the University of Regina is now,” he said with a chuckle.