The students of ION Racing return from the Formula Student competition with excellent results and valuable experiences. The team of ambitious and skilled students has together designed, developed and built the racing car Frøya. The car has participated in Europe's largest competition for engineering students. We at Glassfiber Produkter have been a key sponsor with our contribution to the project.

Formula Student, Europe's largest competition for engineering students, is held every year. The University of Stavanger participates annually with ION Racing: a team of talented students from several different fields of study. Their mission is to design, develop and build an electric Formula 1 car.

The competition will be held at the Silverstone Circuit in England, where the team will compete against student teams from across Europe. The car will be assessed for both its static and dynamic characteristics before finally being unleashed on the racetrack.

Machining of molds

The plan was to make the body in carbon fiber, so the students needed a mold to give the car its beautiful appearance and the right properties. To achieve this, the search began for a partner who could help them with just this.
Then the spotlight fell on Glassfiber Produkter, who, with our specialized expertise and large CNC machine, became the perfect partner and sponsor for the project.

The students wanted to make Molds made of MDF boards. The wood material is cheap, easy to work with and with smooth surfaces the boards can be easily glued together. The molds also had to be reusable.

The project required our team to think differently.

For production, this meant new ways of programming the CNC machine, while at the same time it was important to find the right tools to achieve the best result.

The material is machined into parts that become the molds for the body and aero package.

Meeting with students at UiS.

Europe's largest engineering competition

The time had come, the car had been tested more than ever before and ION Racing set off for Silverstone where the team would compete against over 130 teams from around the world.

Frøya is being carefully assessed by the judges in Silverstone. Photo: ION Racing.

Frøya passed the technical inspections in record time, with high scores on the static parts. The good feedback includes engineering, design, as well as economics and business.

When the dynamics were finally put to the test on the racetrack, things didn't go quite as planned. The electric car's battery failed, and it was left stranded on the starting line.

The talented team did not let this overshadow their good performances from earlier in the competition, and emphasize that they are very satisfied with what they have achieved.

What the students have learned from this year's competition has formed a strong foundation for next year's ION racing entries.

Glassfiber Products is proud of the good collaboration and the unique opportunity to work with something that was a little out of the ordinary. With new expertise and experience, the possibilities for what we can achieve are even greater, and we look forward to more exciting collaborations in the future.