News & Events
ACE on the horizon
Monday 30 May 2011
The two-seat FR-1 concept car, brainchild of the not-for-profit AutoHorizon Foundation, was launched at ACE to media, industry and Federal Innovation and Industry Minister Kim Carr with huge success.
AutoHorizon is founded upon collaboration between business, students, government and volunteers and is set to showcase ground breaking Australian technologies to the global automotive markets. The Fund Raiser-1 (FR-1) will then be auctioned for charity.
AutoHorizon CEO Brian Tanti said "it is with these collaborations and through support from partners such as the Automotive Centre of Excellence that we now proudly unveil the FR-1."
ACE's Auto Body Manager Cassie Smith was excited about the launch and ACE's support of the project. "It's great to see ACE used as the backdrop for such projects," she said.
"Brian, Project Engineer Russell Gallagher and the AutoHorizon team are regulars at ACE, often using the facilities to work on the FR-1 or hosting tours of their workshop for ACE students."
"This project encourages industry collaboration and builds relationships with partners such as Boeing, Holden, DSM Composites, Marand Engineering, VACC and VCAMM. Having the FR-1 project based at ACE indicates how cutting-edge the Australian automotive industry is and how powerful ACE's role in that can be."
Minister Carr drove the FR-1 6.0 litre V8-powered chassis with Ferrari rear-mounted gearbox and clutch through the ACE Vehicle Paint workshop and then for the photo shoot, parked in the preparation bay area (pictured here) - after getting some enjoyment from revving the engine a few times.
