The DART Racing Team at TU Darmstadt recently unveiled the pi2023 electric bolide, with which the team will compete in four Formula Student competitions this summer in the categories Electric and Driverless. The PROSTEP logo has been emblazoned on the monocoque of the newly designed vehicle for the first time. The Darmstadt-based PLM consulting and software company is now supporting the Formula Student team of the local TU as a Gold Sponsor. PROSTEP had previously sponsored students by donating powerful computers for performing complex simulation tasks.
Formula Student (FS) is an international university design competition that was launched in the USA in 1978. As part of this competition, students from different disciplines work in teams to design and build a single-seater racing car with which they compete against rivals from all over the world in the different FS competitions. "It's not the team with the fastest race car that wins the respective competition, but the one with the best overall concept," says Felix Schwerdtfeger, Head of Undercarriage of the DART Racing Team. "This includes, for example, proper cost planning and other economic aspects."
The TU Darmstadt Racing Team (DART) was founded in 2005 and has been participating in the FS competitions since 2006 without interruption, aside from the interruption caused by the pandemic, initially with a racing car with combustion engine. The team equipped a vehicle with an electric drive for the first time in 2011 and has also been competing in the Driverless class since 2017. The team developed the xi2020, a "hybrid" vehicle that combines both classes, for the first time in the 2020 season.
The pi2023 takes this concept a step further and provides for technical innovations and further development of its predecessor, which was the first to be equipped with an electric motor developed in house. The new bolide will participate in its first races from 12 to 16 July 2023 at the Autodromo Riccardo Paletti in Verano de' Melegari, Italy. The DART Racing Team has qualified for a total of four FS competitions in Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany. The FS Germany will again be held at the Hockenheimring race track, where the team achieved a respectable 5th place in the Driverless class last year with the Omikron2022.
PROSTEP is keeping its fingers crossed for the team, and not just for the racing season that is about to start. "Our sponsorship is intended as a long-term commitment," states Joachim Christ, the company's director of marketing. "We want to encourage young engineers who are working on topics of the future, such as electromobility and autonomous driving, as these topics are also very important for PROSTEP and its customers. This will also allow us to further strengthen our long-standing relationship with TU Darmstadt."
