Video by Carly Kramer

UNF’s Osprey Racing Team will be featured in Auto-Italia, an England-based publication that showcases Italian cars. In their upcoming issue, Auto-Italia will present John Campion’s Lancia Martini collection. This line of vintage race cars was photographed on campus on Eco Road and Lot 14.

Campion is the executive chairman of APR Energy here in Jacksonville and a sponsor of the Osprey Racing Team. Campion is adamant about giving new opportunities to the team and thought this would be a great opportunity for the team and for the School of Engineering. He says that Osprey Racers have gone onto work at Riley Motorsports and Ford Motor Company, so he sees a lot of potential in the young engineers.

“This is the best collection of Lancia Martinis in the world,” he said to the Race Team. “Lancia dominated motor sports from 1981 all the way up to 1992 with seven world rally championship wins.”

The Osprey Racers have competed in the Society of Automotive Engineers International competition before and placed 48th out of 120 in last year’s competition. They will be competing in FSAE Michigan on Wednesday, May 9.

According to Team President Parrish Williamson, most club members are engineering students, himself being a mechanical engineer. He and his team use these skills to design cars for competitions, or in this case, a magazine.

Williamson is grateful for the support his team has received from Campion.

“[Campion] actually invited us to join him,” said Williamson. “It’s actually pretty cool to not only hang out with your sponsor, but to have a sponsor.”

Campion grew up with a love for cars and he is proud to support a team with that same passion. He believes that finding a connection to something inspiring will spark the imagination.

“If you can tap into that connection and how very basic 2D engineering transfers to 3D race cars, then that lights a fire,” he said. “That’s really good stuff.”

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