Maxon - Supports Formula Student Racing Team
Student Racing Team receives 2 x Cinema 4D licenses for visualizing motorsport parts.
DART Racing is the Formula student racing team at the TU (Technical University) Darmstadt, Germany, with about 45 active team members from a range of disciplines. As a participant of the international constructors championship Formula Student, the team constructs a new race car each season and executes all steps in the process from conception to construction and taking the car operational.
True to the adage, “It’s not about going faster, it’s about getting smarter”, the competition’s focus lies on the clever and well thought out construction of a high-performance race car. At the end of each season, the teams have to present their cars to a jury and take them to a real race track such as the world-renowned Hockenheim Ring. The technical data of last year’s electric race car ny2019 is more than impressive: 277hp; curb weight 205 kg; 1800 Nm torque; 0 – 100 km/h in only 2.8 seconds! This car can even give traditional Formula 1 cars a run for their money!
The rollout video of the 2019 car gives you an impression of what the team is capable of:
In 2019, the DART Team even developed a second autonomous race car parallel to their development of the ny2019. However, the 2020 team will only present a single car: the xi2020. This model will expand the technical base of the ny2019 with autonomous features and will be the first car in DART’s history that can be driven either by a human driver or entirely autonomously. This means that the team will be able to compete in both the electric and driverless Formula Student racing classes! The car uses laser sensors and cameras to recognize the colored pylons along the track and collect the required data to accelerate, brake and navigate the entire circuit.
The team’s own marketing department will use Cinema 4D to create spectacular visualizations of the new car as well as bespoke parts the team developed and more for the rollout film that they will present on the team’s social media channels. The original CAD data will be used and imported as STEP files into Cinema 4D where they will be visualized. Currently, one marketing team member is responsible exclusively for the production of renderings and animations.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the students had to pause their work on parts development from March to May , while continuing to work on the software of the autonomous driving system. Fortunately, the team was able to return to the university facilities at the end of May under strict personal hygiene standards.
Despite the unusual circumstances, the students’ motivation to complete this project has been unwavering, as Julius Reis, Head of Marketing at DART explains: “With a project like this, you can grow as the challenges grow and it’s great to be able to turn theory into practice. Even as a child I was fascinated by motor sports and it has always been a dream of mine to help conceive and develop a race car. It’s especially motivating for us to work as a team that shares a common passion to envision and achieve such an ambitious goal.”
Maxon is proud to sponsor DART Racing with two Cinema 4D licenses and we can’t wait to see what this talented team brings to life this year!
More information about TU Darmstadt Racing Team can be found online at the DART Racing Website.