Israeli students design race car for Italian contest

Engineering students at Beersheba’s Ben- Gurion University and industrial designers at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design have built a futuristic-looking race car for a collegiate design competition in Italy this month.

This will be the second year in which Israel participates in the much-anticipated Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), but it will be the first year that BGU has partnered with Bezalel.

Last year, the BGU team did very well in its debut performance, considered the best of the new teams and coming in 15th overall out of 57 competitors. This year, in conjunction with Bezalel, the team is hoping for even greater improvement.

Formula SAE is a testing ground for the next generation of world-class engineers and designers, challenging teams of university students from around the world to design and build a single-seat racing car.

The car is then put to the test on race tracks in different parts of the globe. The Formula SAE Italy will take place at the Riccardo Paletti Circuit in Varano de’ Melegari, near Parma, from Friday September 14 to Monday, September 17.

The Bezalel students developed a car design course especially for this project that was initiated by senior lecturer Dori Regev.

Students from BGU’s department of mechanical engineering gave the car its Formula- style look.

“The project presented the unique opportunity to bring together developers from these two complementary disciplines, which allowed them to conduct a mutually-enriching and real development process, with a front-line view of creating a real automotive product,” said Regev.

“The course’s aim was to simulate a realistic design process, where overlapping disciplines such as aerodynamics and styling can be discussed and concepts can evolve through a mutual process. The students researched the stylistic language of race cars, the historical perspective and the contemporary relevance,” he said.

BGU team leader Ben Levitan said that “the annual competition features academic institutions designing a vehicle that must meet given specifications, and presenting it for a competitive score. The vehicle must meet the criteria of performance, engineering excellence, innovation, and general appearance.”

SAE International, the competition’s founder, is the world leader in automotive engineers.