Simon Elliott, group CEO of Volkswagen Group Ireland, and Aisling Kay, Formula DIT, at the School of Manufacturing & Design Engineering, DIT, Bolton Street
A team of final-year manufacturing and mechanical engineering students from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) are gearing up to take on the UK’s motorsport circuit Silverstone for the annual international Formula Student competition.
Formula Student will take place at Silverstone from 11-15 July 2012. The event is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and is backed by industry.
And Volkswagen Group Ireland has today announced it will be sponsoring the Formula DIT crew.
The competition, which is one of the biggest annual educational motorsport events in Europe, challenges students to design and build a single-seat racing car and use it to compete in a series of static and dynamic events. It aims to inspire and develop enterprising and innovative young engineers.
During the event, the technology and performance of the cars will be tested and the teams will be asked to present a viable business proposal.
Formula DIT will compete against more than 150 universities from all over the globe. This is the second year that DIT has competed in the competition.
In advance of the competition, the Formula DIT students showcased last year’s car at the recent Bavaria City racing event in Dublin.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Bill Reddington from the School of Manufacturing and Design at DIT said Volkswagen’s support will help the team put its best foot forward at Silverstone.
“Our students will compete against a field of teams from colleges around the world, most of whom have more than 10 years of competitive experience at this level but our team members are confident that they will perform well and we know that they will do us proud,” he said.
Simon Elliott, group CEO of Volkswagen Group Ireland, spoke about how the auto giant is delighted to support Formula DIT.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with the team and it’s clear that this is a very talented group of engineers. It’s important that we support the innovators of the future so that they can develop the skills required to grow Ireland’s reputation in this industry,” he said.
You can check out Formula DIT’s Facebook page.
Simon Elliott, group CEO of Volkswagen Group Ireland, and Dave Coleman, one of the Formula DIT team members
