Need for Speed

High speeds and precision are the order of the day at High Voltage Motorsports e.V., where students design and build racing cars in their workshop in Tennenlohe.

High Voltage – the first thing that comes to mind at FAU is not the debut album of the Australian rock band AC/DC, although it does have something to do with electricity. Instead, it is the name of the Formula Student association, where FAU students work together to design and build racing cars. Students founded the association in 2007 under the name “High-Octane Motorsports e.V.”. Although they focused on combustion engines until 2021, since then they have moved over entirely to electric cars. “Changing our name to ‘High-Voltage Motorsports e.V.’ was the logical step after we switched over,” explains association chair Ferdinand Wurm. “Our decision reflects the changes in the automotive sector as a whole. That apart, only electric vehicles have been permitted to take part in Formula Student Germany since 2024.”

Sharing the workload

Designing and building a racing car is a complex process. A lot of factors have to be taken into consideration before a vehicle like the latest version named ‘FAUmax rho’ can take to the racetracks of the world. “The fun all starts at the end of the racing season in September,” explains team leader Paul Burkholz. “We work on designing the vehicle until the turn of the year, and then work on building it until the rollout date in early summer.”

In order to work as efficiently as possible, the High Voltage team is split into several smaller sub-teams who take care of the various different aspects. All in all, there are six engineering sub-teams for the various construction groups on the car, consisting of a team leader and their team, such as the “aerodynamics” sub-team led by Ferdinand Wurm in season 2023/24, or the “chassis” sub-team led by Paul Burkholz.

As well as the engineering teams there are also three other sub-teams responsible for the organization of the association and the aspects cost & manufacturing and business plan. In total, approximately 50 to 60 students work together each season, with most staying in the association for two years on average. The students study various degree programs at FAU such as Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering, but also Business Administration or Cultural Geography.

FAU Innovationspreis 2024

High Voltage does not develop its cars from scratch each season, rather, they take over successful concepts and construction details from previous models. Nevertheless, the students continue to work on improving their racing cars. They either arrange for the required components to be made by external companies or build them themselves in their own workshop. “Complicated individual parts that have to be lathed or milled are made externally, for example for the chassis,” explains Paul Burkholz. “We make other parts like the car body of carbon laminate or the cable harnesses for the electronics ourselves in our workshop.”

The association is run entirely by students and is financed via sponsors. While FAU and other parties give High Voltage financial assistance, certain companies sponsor the project with 3D printed components or by providing milling or lathing services or software licenses. “We can also make use of equipment and knowledge at certain university departments, for example in order to run material tests,” says Paul Burkholz. When it’s time to hit the racetrack in summer, the team has put many months of time and effort into constructing their car and carrying out many test drives.

In recognition of its dedication and commitment to constantly improving their racing cars, High Voltage Motorsports e.V. was awarded the FAU Innovation Prize 2024 in the category “students”.

Formula Student

The Formula Student is available in many different countries, but High Voltage Motorsports e.V. predominantly attends races in Europe. This season, the association decided to attend three races: First of all the Red Bull racetrack in Spielberg, Austria. Several weeks later they went to the Hockenheimring in Germany and then directly from there to the Formula Student Alpe Adria at the Bugatti-Rimac test track near Zagreb in Croatia. There, the cars and the teams competed against each other in various disciplines: acceleration, skid pad, autocross and endurance. The overall score also includes static disciplines such as assessing the concept behind the car and the development process (engineering design), possible marketing strategies (business plan) and an analysis of costs and manufacturing (cost & manufacturing).

Author: Boris Mijat

This article is part of the FAU magazine

Innovation, diversity and passion: Those are the three guiding principles of our FAU, as stated in our mission statement. At FAU, we live these guiding principles every day in all that we do – in research, in teaching and when it comes to sharing the knowledge created at our university with society.

This, the second issue of our FAU magazine, underlines all of the above: It shows researchers who tirelessly keep pushing the boundaries of what has been believed to be possible. It introduces students who work together to achieve outstanding results for their FAU, talks about teaching staff who pass on their knowledge with infectious enthusiasm and creativity. And it reports back on members of staff with foresight and a talent for getting to the crux of the matter who are dedicated to improving the (research) infrastructure at FAU as well as people in key positions who are there for their university and are committed to its research location.