Formula Student teams present single-seater cars to compete in England and Germany

Formula Student teams present single-seater cars to compete in England and Germany

And show off new features and technical improvements Sixth year of cooperation with AIC in support of future automotive industry professionals | 23/06/2015

Bilbao, 23.6.2015--- Both Basque Formula Student Teams (Formula Student Bizkaia and Tecnun MotorSport) presented their single-seater cars for the 2015 season at AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center today. At the presentation of the two new models, which they will be competing with in England and Germany, the teams described the new features and technical improvements introduced for this year.

Attending the event were BizkaiaProvincial Council executive for Economic Promotion Imanol Pradales, who wasaccompanied by BPC Treasury and Finances executiveJoséMaría Iruarrizaga and AIC Director GeneralInés Anitua.

This year both teams will be takingpart in two races: the Bizkaia team will be running at Silverstone (England)and Montmelo in Spain, while Tecnun competes atHockenheim (Germany) and alsoat Montmelo, where they’ll be up against rival teams enteredby universities from all over Europe.

In the 2011 season, the Bizkaia Formula Student team developed an electric car for the first time, alongside a combustion-engine car and, in view of the results, decided to concentrate on the electric car. For this year, the most significant improvements focus on the introduction of a carbon-fiber monocoque or single shell chassis, which in turn has prompted the team to explore the possibility of redesigning a number of other vehicle components and the best way to fix them to the shell.

Tecnun Motorsport’s improvements for this season concentrate on a design for a new geometry for suspension schemas to enhance performance on curves and bends. The search continued for an even more carbon-intensive means of lightening the single-seater. Gear changing has also been optimized to improve acceleration.

This is the sixth year AIC has supported the Basque Formula Student teams, largely in its ongoing bid to raise knowledge, training and research levels in the automotive industry. This it does by attending to the new generations of engineers coming onto the labor market from the academic world.

In short, AIC’s main objective here is to ensure that, by developing their own vehicles, university students broaden and hone their skills and talents within the automotive sector, in a range of areas that includes management, design, production and marketing.

AIC also aims to encourage Formula Student teams to work together to become more competitive, to reduce costs and to get used to working in teams, all of which should help students to adapt to the requirements of today’s labor market.

Formula Student is a learning program organized by UK-based IMechE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers) designed to bring on the engineering talents of the future. One hundred-plus European, American and Australian universities are involved in the program.

Promoted by Bizkaia Provincial Council, Amorebieta-Etxamo and Ermua city halls, a group of cutting-edge automotive companies and Basque automotive cluster ACICAE, AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center provides a single umbrella for know-how, training, technology and industrial development initiatives designed to improve competitive levels in the automotive industry.