- MAIN COMPETITION SPONSOR
- CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA RACING TRACK BACKDROP FOR 4TH EDITION OF FORMULA STUDENT SPAIN
- SPANISH BRAND TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT AND 19 JUDGES
- PARTICIPATION RECORD, MORE THAN 900 ENTRIES
Martorell, 29/08/2013. – For the fourth year running SEAT is sponsoring the Formula Student Spain, held beginning today until next Sunday September 1st at the Circuit de Catalunya racing track. Organised into teams, engineering students from all over the world will compete with the single-seater racing cars they themselves have designed, developed and built over the year.
As main sponsor, SEAT is providing the event with a technical support truck as well as 19 engineers from its Technical Centre for the competitions jury. Likewise, the automotive brand will award the ‘Top combustion’ and ‘Best technological innovation’ prizes. The company will also set up a stand with personnel from the Human Resources area to organize different activities throughout the four days of competition so as to present SEAT’s programmes for students. The competitors can thus obtain information about the different opportunities available to join the company.
The Vice-President for R&D, Dr. Matthias Rabe, explained that “SEAT is the only company in Spain with a development centre that has the capacity to cover all the stages of development of a vehicle. For this reason, we are able to make our knowledge and expertise available to youth, and in particular, the participants of Formula Student. The exchange between students and professionals, as well as the students’ motivation and enthusiasm is also an enriching experience for the professionals of our brand.”
Josef Schelchshorn, SEAT’s Vice-President for Human Resources, highlighted the possibility offered by this contact with students: “the passion for the world of cars which these young people share with our brand may offer a pool of talent for the hiring of future professionals. Our aim is to present the company and show them the various ways of access which we place at their disposal as students.”
Record number of entries
For the fourth year of this university competition held in Spain, a record number of more than 900 students have entered, 200 more than in 2012, providing proof positive of the increasing attraction and prestige of the competition. Participants form part of 34 teams of nine different nationalities: Spain, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Romania and Russia.
Innovation and creativity in car construction are the over-arching objectives in the Formula Student event. The competition, held for the first time in the United States in 1981, offers young engineers the opportunity to exhibit their ideas and initiatives at all stages of vehicle construction, from design to driving. This exhibition of ingenuity and skill is, for the most part, the first practical experience for these young people and may well give their careers a substantial boost.
Over the four days of competition, participants are required to show the quality of their work by means of an initial technical examination as well as different dynamic tests before testing their vehicle’s endurance on the track. The competition judges will assess both the technical quality of the vehicle, the appropriateness and originality of the design, as well as the feasibility of the whole in commercial terms.
Commitment to students
Teamwork, trust, technological commitment, a young spirit and enthusiasm are some of the values characterising Formula Student and which may also be found in day-to-day work in SEAT, hence the support provided by the Spanish brand to the competition for the fourth year running. Sponsorship of Formula Student Spain reinforces SEAT’s commitment to universities.
Currently the company participates in different projects with academic centres to identify and provide the most promising students with future opportunities.
SEAT is the only company in its sector with the full-range capacity to design, develop, manufacture and market cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 83% of its vehicles, and is present in 77 countries. In 2012 SEAT had a total turnover of more than 6 billion euros, with overall deliveries amounting to 321,000 units.
SEAT Group employs 14,000 professionals at its three production centres in Barcelona − Zona Franca, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza and Leon, amongst other models. Additionally, the company produces the Alhambra in Palmela (Portugal), the Mii in Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Toledo in Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic) at Volkswagen Group plants.
The Spanish multinational also has a Technical Center, a ‘knowledge hub’, bringing together more than 900 engineers whose goal is to be the driving force behind innovation for the number one industrial investor in R&D in Spain. In line with its declared commitment to environmental protection, SEAT undertakes and bases its core activity on sustainability, namely reduction of CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, as well as recycling and re-use of resources.
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Text and photographs by: SEAT
