FIA Barriers going in with a hand from UT students...

Protection barriers which will line the track started going up Monday with the help of Texas Crane Service and Aztec Trucking. The barriers are 18,000 pounds each, 42 inched high, 30 feet long and solid concrete. To help with the installation process, the FSAE from the University of Texas showed up in force. Driveway Austin has a close relationship with UT by assisting the Mechanical Engineering department's testing and development of new and innovative automotive designs through the Society of Automotive Engineers and the prototype vehicle they construct. Bill Dollahite, President of Driveway Austin, lectures at UT frequently regarding high performance data gathering, analysis and design as well as with dynamic testing of the vehicle at Driveway Austin.

A team of about 8 UT undergraduate and graduate students that take advantage of Dollahite's lectures and testing at the track traded their slide rules for working gloves on Monday. They worked together to place the barriers in location with the highest degree of precision. Not as easy as it may sound when you're working with an 18.000 lb concrete mass swinging from a 200' crane line. 24 barriers were put in place Monday. Another 150 will be placed before the end of the week.