Bosch Formula Student Event in Boxberg

Abstatt – Hustle, bustle, and frantic toiling and tinkering. The grounds of the Bosch test center in Boxberg were a hive of activity on July 5 and 6. Where conventional vehicles would normally be trialed, around 240 students were putting the Formula Student cars they had built through their paces. Across the large vehicle-dynamics area, numerous pylons marked out the various courses to be completed by the teams’ race cars. A large marquee was set up to serve as an improvised pit lane, where the student teams could be found industriously tinkering with their race cars.

Once again, Bosch sent out invitations to a two-day application and driving event to be held on the company’s own racing circuit, where the Formula Student teams would have the opportunity to practice for the competition’s crucial final race in Hockenheim. For the budding engineers, the weekend event is among the season’s most important preparations. “The two days here in Boxberg are worth a great deal to us. Here, we finally have the chance to put our vehicle through its paces after months of intense work. The interaction with Bosch experts, not to mention the support they provide, also helps us get to grips with the last few challenges before we get to Hockenheim,” explains Marc Hägele, project leader from the Einstein Motorsport Team Ulm.

This year, 24 teams from Germany and France participated across the three categories “Driverless”, “Combustion”, and “Electric”. They were mentored and supervised by around 40 specialists from the vehicle-engineering and system-design domains at Bosch, in addition to the company’s subsidiaries ETAS, Bosch Engineering, and ITK Engineering.

Dress rehearsal – testing under race conditions

For years now, the trials workshop at the test center in Boxberg has been a firm fixture on the calendar for student engineers. Bosch Engineering GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Bosch, was the organizer of the two-day event. This year, the 24 teams once again tested their cars, which were designed and developed in-house, under race conditions. The large area available enables all tests to be recreated exactly as they will be at the final race in Hockenheim: These include technical acceptance, “scrutineering”, and a variety of acceleration and endurance courses. With this annual event, Bosch assists the young Formula Student engineers with the development, design, and commissioning of their formula race cars. Furthermore, the most significant contribution made by Bosch is sponsorship in the form of hardware components, software, and expertise. Here, the students particularly benefit from the specialist knowledge of engineers, who are always close at hand with their valuable advice throughout the entire season. “The Formula Student competition is about much more than just building your own little race car. For the members of the various teams, the Formula Student project means passion, motivation, team spirit, and discipline above all else: all of these characteristics will be vital in their future careers alongside the required technical expertise. Here, the students not only get to showcase their engineering abilities, but rather a wide range of formidable skills,” Johannes-Jörg Rüger, Chairman of the Board, Bosch Engineering GmbH explains.

ETAS GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Bosch, has been the official main sponsor of Formula Student Germany in Hockenheim since 2012. This year – in collaboration with Bosch – ETAS is once again enabling the sponsored teams to participate in the trials and application event at Bosch’s test circuit in Boxberg. “The students have an exclusive opportunity to chalk up valuable test kilometers under racing conditions – and to fine-tune their vehicles one last time in advance of the racing event in Hockenheim. We support the teams with hardware and software solutions in application, not to mention with our technical prowess,” says Friedhelm Pickhard, President of ETAS GmbH.

Bosch subsidiary ITK Engineering was once again in attendance: Since the 2016/17 season, this development partner has been supporting Formula Student Teams from various universities and colleges. TUfast and DART – two of the teams sponsored by ITK in the categories “Driverless” and “Electric” – attended the two-day trials event in Boxberg to get their vehicles fully ready for the constructors’ competition in Hockenheim. “Throughout the duration of the season, we support ‘our’ Formula Student teams by placing around 10 of our colleagues at their disposal. We also cooperate with many different ITK facilities and specialist teams to provide the students with the greatest possible range of expertise surrounding vehicle dynamics, and software architecture and development,” explains Sven Wergandt, Program Manager Motorsport at ITK Engineering.

Talent development – fast-tracking the next generation of engineers

Since 2007, the Bosch Group has been the primary sponsor of Formula Student Germany. Every year, it provides support to hundreds of students from various international Formula Student teams – especially in the form of motorsport components, software, measurement technology, and technical expertise. Indeed, the budding young talents benefit from the expertise of the company’s own engineers throughout the course of numerous workshops and events related to technical topics. The students participate in the three categories “Combustion”, “Electric”, and “Driverless” in the Formula Student competition. Each team is obliged to compile a business plan, a cost estimation, and a manufacturing description before submitting these to the jury, while the development and design concept are also presented and judged.

Further Information:

Career at Bosch: www.bosch.de/karriere

Career at Bosch Engineering: https://bit.ly/2lHhYbJ

Career at ITK Engineering: www.itk-karriere.de

Formula Student Germany: www.formulastudent.de