The Universidad Europea de Madrid racing team, Fórmula UEM, was the only Spanish team to take part in three Formula Student competitions. These events are organized by institutions from the engineering and automotive fields: Silverstone organized by IMECHE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers), Riccardo Paletti by ATA (Associazione Tecnica dellàutomobile) and Montmeló organized by STA (Sociedad de Técnicos de Automoción), and are sponsored by automotive sector firms such as SEAT, NISSAN, AVL , IDIADA, Jaguar or Bosch, among others. For the eighth year running the team has taken part in the competitions in England and Spain, and attended the Italian event for the first time.
The FUEM08 team of the Universidad Europea de Madrid, which comprises 50 students supported by 3 automotive engineering professors, was the best team from Madrid in the competition held at Montmeló, competing against teams from UPM, Universidad de Nebrija, URJCI and UCIII. The team also took first place in the Cost, Manufacturing and Sustainability competition in Spain, competing against 70 universities from all over the world.
Other results include the FUEM08 team ranking as the third Spanish team in the Montmeló competition combustion category, and it was the only Spanish combustion team at the competitions in England and Italy. It also came 8th in the Design competition at the Riccardo Palleti circuit, competing against 60 participants, and 15th of 111 participants in the Design competition at Silverstone.
All these great results are due to the technical improvements implemented this year, including a monocoque chassis made by the students in carbon fiber, aerodynamic improvements, new engine adjustments and improved suspension; these improvements would not have been possible without support and collaboration from the sponsors.
According to Vicente Padilla, team advisor, “we are very pleased with the results obtained in the competitions this year, but ambition and a spirit of continuous improvement drive us to begin developing the project for next season already”.
Finally, after the competition at Montmeló, the team enjoyed a visit to Seat Motorsport, where they started taking note of new solutions to implement in next year’s car, the FUEM09, which they are already working on to meet the objectives set for next season.