!NEW! Formula Student: Opel Main Sponsor and Partner of Largest University Racing Series in Europe

• Three-year contract signed with Formula Student Germany
• New “Opel Style Award“ for especially clever design and packaging solutions
• TU Kaiserslautern and THM Gießen join group of Opel teams 

Formula speedster: The racing cars used in the Formula Student are prototypes and are designed, engineered, built and driven by students.

Opel continues intensifying its activities dedicated to promoting young engineers, signing a three-year contract as main sponsor of the international educational motorsport competition Formula Student. Charlie Klein, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, is delighted that Opel is now a sponsor of Europe’s largest student motorsport competition: “With this we make a clear statement regarding our long-term commitment to passionate and talented people. The involvement of many Opel employees in this established student racing series to date has already been a valuable investment in our own future. Now we are going a step further, and in addition to the university teams we promote, we are also sponsoring the entire series. We will also grant the “Opel Style Award“ to the Formula Student teams with especially clever design and packaging solutions, and thereby build a bridge to these traditional Opel strengths.” The winning team can look forward to enjoying an Opel ADAM S as team vehicle for a whole season.

Strong partnership: Charlie Klein, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Opel Group CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann and Ludwig Vollrath, Board Member Formula Student Germany, with two monopostos of the student motorsport competition.

Students participating in Formula Student face engineering and manufacturing challenges very similar to those faced by established Opel engineers. Just like for real-life engineers, it is about aligning product attributes, manufacturing methods and economic efficiency. During the season, the team members learn and grow with every new task. This makes the motorsport competition a unique opportunity for all budding engineers to experience and actively contribute to a complete model development cycle within a very short period of time.

„Competing in the Formula Student not only offers students the opportunity to apply and deepen their specialist knowledge, it also gives them the chance to gather management and social skills along with international experience. The Formula Student has become the central educational motorsport competition with its 600 teams from 52 countries. Opel’s commitment strongly supports this orientation,” said Ludwig Vollrath, Board Member Formula Student Germany.

The special appeal of the Formula Student competition is that the teams are responsible for the entire process, just like automobile manufacturers. The racing car they develop must have competitive-level performance in terms of acceleration, braking and handling qualities. Reliability, durability and low-cost production are also aspects that will be judged. The competition takes place under the auspices of the Association of German Engineers VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure).

Thumbs up: Charlie Klein, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, is looking forward to the new Formula Student season with six Opel teams from Darmstadt, Rhein-Main, Hamburg, Deggendorf, Kaiserslautern and Gießen.

Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Charlie Klein outlines the cooperation with the teams supported by Opel: “We provide the students with help and advice. The spectrum of our support ranges from use of the test track at the Opel Test Center Rodgau-Dudenhofen for production of parts and components to advice and guidance from our engineers. We are particularly delighted that from this season, we will welcome two new teams from the TU Kaiserslautern (University of Kaiserslautern) and the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences) to our ranks. With this official support, we also recognize the close relationships to our development center and the Kaiserslautern plant. Our partner teams are excellent ambassadors for our brand.”

Last year, the ninth season of Formula Student brought over 3,600 students in 115 teams from 24 countries to the Hockenheimring. There they were cheered on by more than 5,000 spectators – a record year for the student racing series competition that features the two categories combustion engines and electric propulsion. This year, Formula Student again takes place in Hockenheim from July 30 – August 2. Support of Formula Student also has a long tradition at Opel’s parent company General Motors. In addition to General Motors’ overall engagement within the Formula SAE, particularly its collaboration with the home team from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is of special note. As the teams supported by GM and Opel maintain close contact and assist one another, the Opel Blitz shines next to the GM logo on the hoods of many US racing cars.

The Opel teams in the Formula Student:

TU DART Racing (TU Darmstadt) - http://dart-racing.de
Scuderia Mensa (Hochschule Rhein-Main) - http://www.scuderia-mensa.de
HAWKS Racing (Hochschule Hamburg) -  www.hawksracing.de
Fast Forest (TH Deggendorf) - http://www.fast-forest.de
KaRaT Racing (TU Kaiserslautern) - http://www.karat-racing.de/
THM Motorsport (TH Mittelhessen Gießen) - http://www.thm.de/motorsport/racing/