ZF Race Camp: where is the power socket on the race track?

The trade fair grounds in Friedrichshafen is once again be transformed into a race track. This is the eighth time that ZF has invited the sponsored Formula Student racing teams to come to Friedrichshafen. On June 18 and 19, the students will be able to put their self-designed racing cars through their paces and prepare for the first big racing event at the Hockenheimring. The discussion for those attending the event's talk round will focus on electromobility in motorsports.



A total of 19 racing teams from Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland registered for the ZF Race Camp, will run through various racing disciplines and share experience. They line up on the grid with 21 vehicles – including 13 electric-powered racing cars. In addition, around 40 engineers and experts from different technical departments from all over Germany will be on hand to advise and support the teams with their expertise. 500 students in total have gathered on the trade fair grounds to prepare for the Formula Student series and give their vehicles the necessary finishing touch beforehand.

Yet the cooperative effort does not only require technical knowledge and design know-how; students also need excellent organizational, project management, and costing skills. “The Race Camp is the ideal platform for us to engage in dialog with the young people with multi-disciplinary training,” said ZF Chief Human Resources Officer Jürgen Holeksa. “Students that are successfully involved in Formula Student are among the ideal candidates for us,” adds Martin Frick, Head of ZF HR Marketing. The intelligent combination of sound engineering training and enthusiasm for the emotional subject of motor racing is what makes the Formula Student design competition so special.

Two years ago, the initiators of the event established the ZF Race Camp Talk in order to exchange information on topical issues. This year ZF Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stefan Sommer will be talking to Marco Wittmann, BMW works driver and reigning German Touring Car Masters (DTM) champion, as well as Kristin Bauser from the Formula Student team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) about the future of electromobility in motorsports. This also entails the new challenges which the teams have to face when designing their racing cars in the age of e-mobility.

Since 2002, ZF has been strongly committed to Formula Student. Today, 36 university teams are sponsored. In addition to know-how, ZF supports the international young talents with high-tech racing products, financial help, or team-building measures.