Motorsport team of the H-BRS presents the new electric racing car for the 2023 season

The students of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences do not have much time to test the new electric racing car and eliminate unexpected weaknesses. Because on 12 July, the new model will already roll onto the starting grid at the Varano race track in the northern Italian province of Parma. The racer for the 2023 season was completed just in time for its first public presentation on Friday, 23 June, in the university's Audimax. Even the night before, the students of the BRS Motorsport Association were still working on the racer in order to be able to present it to the invited audience as long announced.

The G23e model weighs around 200 kilogrammes, has a power output of 80 kilowatts and is supposed to be able to accelerate to 100 kilometres per hour in 2.3 seconds. The acceleration value, like the aerodynamic forces and the top speed of 120km/h, comes from the extensive simulations that the students have carried out. The actual values must now be determined in the test drives. The racing car, which is all in visible carbon and blue, is almost a new design. Unlike in previous years, the car does not represent a further development, but consists almost entirely of newly constructed components. The students are aware that they are taking a risk. They will drive to the international races with a car for which they have calculated great potential, but which still has to prove itself.

"Lots of new parts on the race car are always a risk, but with last year's race car we got almost everything out of our old concept. In order to continue to compete with the best Formula Student teams in the world, we had to take the next step," says Noah Koch, student at H-BRS and the new team manager of BRS Motorsport. "But there are not only a lot of new things on the race car, the team also has many new members who now have to learn from the experienced team members in the upcoming competitions. And they have to do so in such a way that the team works well together and every move fits. Only if we continue to work together as one team can we remain successful."

The list of innovations that the students have come up with for the new racing car is long. For example, they redesigned the chassis and, as a consequence, the gearbox, brake and wheel carrier. The brake is, for the first time in the club's history, an in-house development. They are particularly proud of the sophisticated aerodynamics. With a three-dimensional design of the front wing, they have succeeded in solving the problem of stall in the front and helping the vehicle to achieve more downforce. The students, many of whom are studying engineering subjects, put a lot of thought into the accumulator and its attachments. The voltage converter they developed promises more energy for the duration of a race. At the same time, it solves the problem of uneven discharging of the high-voltage battery.

The goal is clear to the club members, currently around 50 students from all disciplines: they want to compete with the best teams in Europe according to the Formula Student regulations and be at the top in all disciplines. The race from 12 July onwards on the "Ricardo Paletti" racetrack in northern Italy, where Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Rosberg have already done their laps, will give them the opportunity to do so. A few days later, the competition at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, is on the agenda, followed by the race at the circuit in Most, Czech Republic. The winding track in northern Bohemia is associated with exciting memories from last season for the BRS Motorsport team: In a heart-stopping final, the team from Sankt Augustin narrowly missed out on overall victory in terms of points, scoring third place.

The students of BRS Motorsport build cars in their workshop in Hangelar and develop a new racing car for each racing season on the Sankt Augustin campus. The group has existed since 2007 and regularly participates in Formula Student in Europe. Since 2014, they have been building exclusively electrically powered cars. Participation in the interdisciplinary motorsport group is embedded in the university's teaching programme and is supervised by Professor Dirk Reith. The development and construction of the racing car is supported by sponsors.