Friedrichshafen, July 28, 2014. From 30 July to 3 August, more than 100 university teams from all over the world will be competing against each other on the Hockenheim circuit with racing cars they have designed and built themselves. MTU is a major sponsor of the engineering design competition called “Formula Student Germany”.  The Rolls-Royce Power Systems subsidiary, formerly Tognum AG, also set up the special “Most Innovative Power Train” prize and provides seven university teams with financial backing.  Staff from MTU provide further input by manufacturing components for the racing cars and acting as jurors in various competition disciplines.

“Our long-term commitment to this competition has enabled us to help capable, ambitious students with a passion for technology fulfill their dream of building their own racing car. In turn, we get to know young people who would be inspired by a course of practical training or exciting diploma project at MTU that opens the door to a future career with an international technology leader,” said Jörg Schwitalla, member of the Executive Board responsible for HR, integrity and operations at Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG and head of MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH.

MTU sponsors the following university teams: the Global Formula Racing Team, comprising students from the Cooperative State University of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg,  Campus Friedrichshafen and Oregon State University;  the University of Stuttgart racing team, the Lions Racing Team from Braunschweig Technical University, the TUfast team from Munich Technical University, KA-RaceIng from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), High-Octane Motorsports from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Formula Student Team Weingarten from the Technical University of Ravensburg-Weingarten.

This year again, over 100 university teams from all over the world applied to enter “Formula Student Germany”. 75 teams will be revving up their internal combustion engines at the start line, while 40 present their electric drives. As distinct from other motor-sport competitions, Formula Student is not necessarily won by the fastest car, but the team with the best overall score in the areas of design, vehicle handling, energy efficiency, financial planning and marketing.  The design competition has its origins in the USA, with contests now taking place in Italy, Japan, Brazil, England, Hungary and Austria.  As the rules are virtually identical, the teams can take part in races all over the world.