Umicore Luna performs well on legendary Silverstone circuit
From 9 to 12 July, 37 students from the Thomas More university college and the university of Leuven participated with their Umicore LUNA electric racing car in the world’s biggest engineering competition: the Formula Student competition. Out of 97 participating teams, the Formula Electric Belgium team obtained an excellent 7th final position for technology, design, quality and innovation.
The Formula Electric Belgium team is part of the Powered by Umicore programme that supports clean mobility projects of engineering students. The team was in good company at Silverstone. Over 3 000 engineering students from all over the world competed against each other with their self-developed electric racing cars.
Challenging events
This year the Formula Electric Belgium team presents the Umicore LUNA – a flashy, self-developed electric racing car. During the competition, a jury of top engineers evaluated the Umicore LUNA. First, the e-car passed a meticulous technical inspection to ensure all safety issues. Then there were static tests, including a presentation that covered the car’s design. Finally, the Umicore LUNA had to perform on track during the dynamic tests: an acceleration test and an endurance test of 22 kilometres with a skid-pad (8-shaped trajectory) that puts the car’s road-holding to the limit. The Umicore LUNA made some great impressions with its acceleration power, going from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.7 seconds!
A new record
The team obtained an excellent 7th final position for technology, design, quality and innovation; a new record for the team. Enis Karatmanli, student and racing driver of Formula Electric Belgium, is delighted with the result: “The first competition is always stressful, for all teams. That’s why I’m very happy with our final position. What matters now is that we fine-tune the car on the basis of our learnings on the circuit for the upcoming competitions.”
Sustainability ambassadors
Tatiana Cervak, Umicore’s Social Investment Manager adds: “We are very proud of the team that worked really hard to realise this beautiful electric racing car. Their passion for technology and clean mobility makes them excellent ambassadors for a more sustainable world.”
Excelling, not just succeeding
Wouter Lutin, education manager automotive technology at the Thomas More university college and the team’s coach, guides the students during their races: “I gladly spend three weeks of my vacation on these competitions,” he says smiling. “It is nice to see how the students develop their skills during this project. These races are not just a matter of succeeding, but of excelling, and that’s what we stand for. After all, ‘Expect More’ is Thomas More’s tagline for a reason.”
In the coming six weeks the team will participate in the Formula Student competition on the circuits of Hockenheim, Germany and Most, Czech Republic. Check out their experiences and performances on the Powered by Umicore Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UmicorePoweredByYou