17.08.2010
The University of Stuttgart's Green Team wins "Formula Student Electric"
Formula Student Germany at Hockenheimring (© Almonat, Formula Student Germany)
Students at the University of Stuttgart have won the first ever electric race car competition at the "Formula Student Germany 2010". The Green Team from Stuttgart raced the University of Eindhoven and Graz University of Technology into second and third places.
91 teams consisting of almost 2,000 students from 17 different countries took part in the two competition events with electric and internal combustion engine cars at this year's event on the Hockenheimring racing track. A condition of participation in the event is that the vehicles must be designed and built by the students themselves in one year. Participating up and coming engineers taking part in the challenge were required to demonstrate their skills in the disciplines of acceleration, endurance, design and financial planning over five gruelling days of competition. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) has run the design competition since 2006 with the specific aim of fostering burgeoning student talent. The focus throughout is on vehicle safety, sustainability and speed.
"It is extremely important these days, especially for young engineers, to link up innovations with sustainability. In the final analysis these are the people who will be working on solutions for ecologically sound mobility in the future," explains Tim Hannig, Chairman of the Formula Student Germany. Some students will be driving vehicles built with materials worth well over 100,000 euros at the competition on the legendary Hockenheimring which is supported by 15 companies in the automotive industry and many other sponsors who all have an interest in recruiting successful participants for their firms as early as the preparation phase.
Particular attention is paid to the safety of the electric vehicles: owing to the extremely high voltages used, all current-carrying parts on electric cars are marked in orange. This is also why engineers are only allowed to work on vehicles if they are on an insulating mat and are wearing protective gloves. During the races themselves - all of which are driven against the clock - all drivers are required to wear fireproof clothing and to have a fire extinguisher on board.
The race with classic internal combustion engine cars - the category the Stuttgart-based team won last year - was won by the Dutch TU Delft team. Second place went to Ann Arbor (Michigan, USA) ahead of the University of Zwickau. Best newcomer was Isfahan University of Technology in Iran.
