Last Friday it was that time again. The HSNR racing team presented the new RS-23c race car. Team leader Frederic Schiwan led the rollout and reported on last year's developments. Faculty Advisor Professor Michael Heber passed the baton to Professor Julia Kessler last year after 10 years. And there is a big change in the team as well, so after Corona there has been a rebuilding with many new faces.
In her speech, Professor Julia Kessler was impressed by the team and the team spirit. As a representative of the Executive Board, Professor Fabienne Köller-Marek then not only addressed the value of teamwork as a sign of the implementation of theory and programme content in practice in her speech. She also questioned the sense of a racing car with an internal combustion engine at a time when the concept of sustainability is everywhere. She sees the work of the racing team not only as something that brings great pleasure and is fun, but above all also serves to drive innovation, conserve resources, avoid waste, and in this way in particular takes sustainability into account. Faculty Advisor Julia Kessler then also confirmed that the trend in the HSNR racing team is also clearly moving in the direction of e-racing cars and that the changeover is foreseeable. The Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Professor Marc Gennat, was also full of praise for the students' work and then also made the connection to his field of work, Automation Engineering, with a film about the work in the racing team.
Team leader Frederik Schiwan presented the current developments and innovations of the RS-23c in an interview with his assembly managers. For example, there is now one sensor less on the accelerator pedal. The failure that occurred here last year should now be avoided as a result. Overall, the aim is to create reliability and develop a fail-safe concept. While for the airbox in the last only was valid: "Skin thing it holds!" was the slogan for this year "Main thing it holds and is light! And indeed, 200g of weight could be saved here again. In terms of aerodynamics, the car now has the Drag Reduction System (DRS), which is also used in Formula 1. The DRS system is a movable rear wing that reduces the vehicle's drag. On a straight line, the car can thus achieve a higher final speed.
As always, there were fears before the rollout that time would be tight to get the car ready. But isn't that the case every year?
It is clear that without sponsors there would be no race car. The team therefore thanked the main sponsors from MLP, Brunel, Hebmüller, Kniest and ntn with a small gift before the new car was finally unveiled. As always, there was a lot of interest in the float and thus bridged the time until it could come to the cozy part of the evening. The buffet was then almost an own contribution of the racing team. The original caterer dropped out at short notice, so that the mother of the team leader Frederic Schiwan, Andrea Janßen, who runs an agricultural business with catering, spontaneously stepped in with the catering. And as could be heard from the 200 guests, this was a good and delicious solution, which may be repeated with pleasure.
In keeping with tradition, many former team members met again at the rollout to celebrate the new car and the reunion. It was a great rollout! Many thanks to the whole team!
We are already looking forward to the upcoming races in Austria and at the Hockenheimring and keep our fingers crossed!
