About Mr. Ryo Masutani
Ryo Masutani is in his 2nd year in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He joined Sophia Racing immediately after he entered the University on April 2006, and he now belongs to the Chasis Team. He is in charge of parts such as the brake system, and has been participating in the team activity keenly.
Interest to 'Manufacturing'
He decided to enter the Department of Mechanical engineering, because of his interest to machines. However, that does not mean that he was particularly interested in cars. Even so, the introduction of Sophia Racing in the booklet that he received on the day of entrance ceremony caught his eye.
The reason for entering Sophia Racing was because he "found it cool". But it was not the car that he "found cool". He "found it cool" for the students to manage teams by themselves and manufacture something by themselves. "It didn't have to be a car" he says, "it could have been aeroplanes, robots or anything. I just found it cool to manufacture."
Growing interest to cars
Though it was not cars that he was interested in at the beginning, a year after he has joined the team, his interest to cars has grown dramatically. He is now thinking about taking part in the car industry as one of the options after graduation.
By gaining knowledge through the activity, his viewpoint to cars and motor cycles has changed through the year. He "can't help" taking a glance at the inner side of the wheel and brakes, when he finds them.
Viewpoint to the Studies at School
It wasn't just the view point to cars that has changed in him. The viewpoint to the school studies has also changed, he says. One of the things that he has noticed while taking part in Sophia Racing is that "what you have studied at school can turn out to be useful, even when you went out to work." For example, he used to think that the Physics that he had learnt at High School could only be useful the University entrance exam, but now, he can use the knowledge from the Physics class to design the car.
On the other hand, the knowledge he gained from the activities in Sophia Racing can be useful in his class in the University. In the 2nd year of the department of mechanical engineering, all students must use 3D-CAD in class. Ryo has been using 3D-CAD for designing since he was in his first year in Sophia Racing. He was able to make a difference from the other students in the class, because he was working hard in Sophia Racing. He also has chances to put what he have learnt in class into practice, which makes it easier for him to understand what he had learnt.
High Motivation
Just after he had joined Sophia Racing, he was asked what his ambition of the year was. He answered, "To be able to make immediate contributions to the team." Now, when he looks back the year, he cannot judge whether he had accomplished his ambition or not by himself. But what he can definitely say is that he had been participating in the activity keenly to be able to make immediate contributions. He had been trimming collars and washers to shakedown SR05 before the training programme for the freshmen has even started. Already, he had left school late at night, and he even had a day that he did not go home. After the shakedown of SR05, he nearly worked all night ro repaire SR02, forgetting time.
His high motivations have not changed after a year. With the shakedown of SR06 coming up, he comes to Sophia Racing literally everyday, and stays util late at night.
He expects the new members of Sophia Racing to take part keenly, with high motivation, and at the time, enjoy it. He believes that by doing that, they can get used to the team, their jobs, and the car, as he did.
Expectations from the Team
The older members from the team expects a lot from him, and he admits that he sometimes feel pressures from those expectations. At the moment, the leaders and the members of their generation, who could be described as the key players of the team, are all older members of the team. Ryo is worried whether he could be as good as them when he and members of his generation are required to become the key players.
Though he has such worries, looking at Ryo taking part in Sophia Racing so keenly, there is no wonder that the older members cannnot help expecting much from him. If he can keep up his high motivation, there is no doubt that even when he and the members of his generations are required to be the key players, he will lead the team to a better way.
Writer:Kei Ikezawa
