Formula Student: Here, student teams from colleges and universities around the world compete for victory on well-known race tracks. The competition has been around since 2006, in which students build racing cars that are then judged and awarded prizes in various categories by a jury. The E-Motion racing team from Aalen University has been participating in Formula Student with electric vehicles since 2012 and can look back on a number of successes (such as 1st place in the "Cost Analysis" category at the competition in Italy in 2019). One of the sponsors has been C.F. Maier from the beginning - in the field of lightweight materials for the body parts we are a competent contact for the students.
In 2020, the competition unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the Corona pandemic. Nevertheless, the dedicated racing team did not want to take a break in any respect: As an alternative, they simply organized an event on a small scale and in compliance with all hygiene measures together with C.F. Maier. The result of the project was not to be a racing vehicle this time, but an elaborate video clip in which a race would be run directly in the halls of C.F. Maier.
In March of this year, the project became concrete: The students met on the premises of C.F. Maier to find out exactly where the filming was to take place. Afterwards, those responsible for the respective areas were informed of where cleanup work still needed to be done in order to turn the production halls into a film set. The students also wrote a script to stage the planned race in a dramaturgically perfect way. On the following Saturday, the time had come: filming started.
In preparation, the drivers tested the planned route to find out where it was best to step on the gas - and where it would be better to leave it alone. Safety precautions were taken so that neither the driver nor the film crew could be injured. The opening sequence starts in the C.F. Maier showroom, where selected exhibits are on display. Amid atmospheric stage fog and selected lighting effects, the car whizzed through the hall. Several cameras filmed the action-packed scene to also do justice to the spectacle with different perspectives. Of course, one attempt is not enough to get the perfect footage in the box and so it started all over again right after the first round was finished.
Despite all the caution, there was unexpected excitement: The car collided with a wall on the slippery hall floor, so that the suspension of the left rear wheel was bent and the racing car was not ready for use for the time being. The incident initially dampened the group's momentum a little. Fortunately, the shoot still didn't have to come to an early end: A replacement part was simply fetched from Aalen and installed, so that after a delay of about one and a half hours, the group was able to continue - and again with full motivation. The day of filming ended in good spirits and the footage was together as planned.
The video is currently being edited. It is not quite finished yet, because the E-Motion team has meanwhile started the 2021 racing season and is working diligently on the new vehicle. But soon the video clip will be available on the C.F. Maier YouTube channel. Even if the C.F. Maier logo was unfortunately not allowed to adorn an innovative e-racing car in 2020, the film adequately consoles over it. In addition, we are of course keeping our fingers crossed for "our" racing team for the competitions coming up again in the summer and wish them every success!
