Four wheel drive, less weight, a radically new design and an anticipated sprint from 0-100 kilometres per hour in less than three seconds. 75 students from Delft University of Technology are ambitious. After winning the Formula Student electric programme last year, DUT Racing also wants to succeed this year. But with a totally different vehicle.

Formula Student is a design competition for students to initiate an automotive concept and thoroughly think about costs and which material choices are being made. Additionally, the teams need to perform on various road tests like a sprint and an endurance course. The Dutch students were very successful during the last few years by winning the competition with a combustion engine in 2008 and 2010 and they were victorious with their first electric vehicle last year.

“We came in touch with the electric competition in 2010 and we directly thought this is fun, we should compete. We are all going to drive electric in the end, so we started working on this concept”, says 2012 DUT Racing team manager Max Wink. The team already recognized that the car could be improved, because it didn’t fully benefit on its electric characteristics.

This years’ prototype definitely does. A new introduced electric differential and a new regenerative braking system are two of the many new features. “It’s a big step and we’re taking a huge risk. But if it works, we’ll have a really great chance of winning the competition”, says Wink.