Electric cars in the Formula Student

Global Formula Racing - a co-operation between two universities in Germany and the USA - is jointly developing two racing machines for formula racing. In addition to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, a completely electric racing car regularly takes part in the student competitions.

The complex machines consist of several hundred parts, including iglidur ® bearings and drylin® linear units. In addition, components from 3D printing can also be found in the formula cars. The advantage: Even complex structures such as undercuts and cavities can be realised quickly and cost-effectively.

The students of the "PWR Racing Team" from the Polish Wroclaw University of Technology regularly compete with their racing cars against other teams around the world for the best times.

The ambitious young engineers work with our bearing technology in many areas, such as the suspension, the control system or the pedal bearings. In addition to components that are as lightweight as possible, high-performance sport with its high speeds on rough tracks demands components that are particularly robust.

In the gearbox****1 iglidur® X thrust washers (e.g. XTM-1018-010)
2 iglidur® J thrust washers (e.g. JTM-1018-010)
3 iglidur ® W Flange bearing

In the steering****4 igubal ® Spherical plain bearing (e.g. KGLI-08)
5 igubal ® spherical plain bearing (e.g. KGLM-22)
6 Customised 3D printing linear guide

In the pedals****7 iglidur ® G flanged bushing (e.g. GFM-1517-05)

3D printed parts made from our iglidur® material prove their worth in this racing car of the Formula Student Team from Weingarten near Ravensburg:
The racing car competes against the designs of other student teams on the track as part of the Germany-wide "Formula Student Germany" design competition.

To build the formula car, the team from Weingarten needed customised plastic sprockets, among other things. These are used as chain tensioners in the chain drive. Unfortunately, customised sprockets have long delivery times and traditional production using milling is time-consuming. Our 3D printing service was able to provide rapid assistance here and produced the plastic sprockets in less than 72 hours.

The Swiss Formula Student Team "AMZ" has been competing with an electric drive since 2010. And with success: the 166 kg car, which accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds, has managed to fight its way to second place in the world rankings.

Our products also contribute to this performance: A stabiliser bar, which connects the left and right suspension and thus reduces the roll of the chassis when cornering, is mounted for the first time not with bronze sleeves but with iglidur ® Q plain bearings. These are many times lighter and still take all loads without any problems. They are also corrosion-free and absolutely weatherproof; a major improvement on the previous year.

The Shell Eco-Marathon has been recognising the most fuel-efficient vehicles for decades.
It is not only a lightweight design that helps the participants to win on the 25 km long track - high reliability and wear resistance of all components are also required to compete at the top.

Our iglidur® and igubal ® plain bearing portfolio made of lightweight plastic components, which permanently withstand the high impact forces and vibrations on the race track, proves to be the perfect solution here. Installed in a participating vehicle, they make the racing car significantly lighter, enable economical fuel consumption and ensure long maintenance intervals in areas of the vehicle that are difficult to access.