FSUPV Team, the Formula Student team from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), has placed a sensational third place at the FSAE Michigan. It is the original and most prestigious site of the competition. Open to students from the entire world, the competition promotes excellence in engineering by students designing, building and racing their own single-seater.
José Luis Colomer, FSUPV Team's Administrative Director, did not hide his satisfaction: "It was the first time that the UPV team has left Europe to compete, which implies logistical challenges. Still, we had a very competitive car, the FSUPV-04, which already obtained very good results in the trials held in Europe".
The effort and good work by the team members ended in a well-deserved award, third place at the competition held at the International Circuit in Michigan, which featured the participation of 120 teams from all over the world. In addition, UPV's team took home the FEV Powertrain Development Award, which recognizes the best engine development.
"Since the beginning", Colomer indicated, "the FSUPV-04 was one of the fastest vehicles, with fast cornering, reaching 130 km/h, and achieved an unexpected victory in the resistance test, beating all of our rivals".
A spectacular evolution
The FSUPV-04 crossed the Atlantic in late April with the objective of preparing for the competition, which took place May 9-12. After passing the technical inspection, the team obtained very good scores. "We came to fight for a top position", the team's Administrative Director emphasized. And they did just that.
In fact, though FSUPV-04 had already been a surprise in the latest edition of the Formula Student Germany, where it took second in the acceleration test, and in Formula Student Spain, where it finished eighth in the general race, third place in Michigan represented a spectacular evolution.
FSAE Michigan, a competition with history
FSAE Michigan was founded in 1980, when Ron Matthews -then an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas- decided to hold a competition intended for students that allowed them to apply what they were learning in the classroom. One year later, the race adopted the name Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), which is in charge of organizing the contest, and combined four universities: University of Cincinnati, Stevens Institute, University of Tulsa and the University of Texas-Austin.
In the past edition, there were more than 100 participating institutions; in 2018, it exceeded that number with a total of 120 teams from around the world. The competition consists of a series of dynamic and static trials that evaluate the engineering design behind the single-seat race car, its reliability and safety, in addition to the team's capacity to handle a real situation.
The FSUPV-05 prepares for the european season
After traveling to the United States, the members of the FSUPV Team are finalizing what will be their new single-seater, the FSUPV-05. With that car, they will participate in the Formula Student East and Formula Student Spain. The first of them will be held in Hungary at the end of next July.
After achieving the continued good results, the team's ambition is growing: "We want to be in the top five of the global competition", Colomer indicated.
Part of UPV's Spontaneous Generation Program
As part of the UPV's Spontaneous Generation program, the FSUPV Team is an initiative that has the objective of increasing the extracurricular activities carried out by groups and associations of this university that contribute to the educational and professional development of its student body.
Created in 2014, UPV's Formula Student team is one of the 46 teams that form part of the program. Currently, 26 students from different schools participate in the project. They are all dedicated to the same passion: designing and manufacturing competition vehicles.
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