50 Salesian University School Sarrià students create a single-seater car capable of competing in international tournament

(MissionNewswire) Fifty students from the Salesian University School Sarrià, located in Barcelona, Spain, have created a single-seater car (EM-04) capable of competing in Formula Student, an international tournament promoted by the Society of Engineers that brings together more than 800 universities.

The car was tested in December and will go back into a construction phase to make necessary adjustments. The final car will compete during the summer. The competition evaluation process takes into consideration not only how well it performs on the track but the business plan, consumption, and cost analysis.

The Salesian team, known as EUSS MotorSport, was first developed in 2017 and brings together students from different engineering specialties to design and build the car together. Alicia Camp, industrial organization engineering student and EUSS MotorSport project director, said, “It’s real work experience and a great personal learning experience. Seeing our idea run and making it work is the best reward. It’s like working in a company and applying your knowledge in the real world.”

For this competition, EUSS MotorSport changed its work process. Camp explained, “This is the first time we are working by projects and not by departments. We have made sure that the groups are composed of multidisciplinary teams that can manage and carry out the different phases of the project. We are more efficient. Also, it’s up to us, not the teachers. If we make a mistake and one part doesn’t go well, no one makes note of it, but we will have invested badly and will have to start over.”

Each of the 25 active projects that have gone into building the car, including improvement, innovation and validation projects, has its own director who carries out coordination and management tasks. Camp noted, “There is a lot of communication so that there is good planning. It is a rather radical change but we are already seeing many improvements.”

Also, first-year engineering students have the opportunity to join the team in any project from the sponsorship area. Camp added, “It’s a way to present them to the team in an equally necessary and important perspective, like media, social media, and sponsors. Without them, the car would not exist.”

Salesian missionaries have been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential, technical and vocational training programs and college courses.

Close to 37 percent of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14 percent less than men and represent only 34.5 percent of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.

Poverty also rose in Spain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Bank, those expecting severe poverty or material deprivation affected reached 7 percent of the population in 2020, around 3.3 million people. This is sharp rise from 4.7 percent registered in 2019, and is slightly below the 7.1 percent seen in 2014, which was at height of the financial crisis in the country.

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Sources:

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ANS – Spain – Salesian students design new race car for Formula Student (SAE)

Salesian University School Sarrià

Salesian Missions – Spain

World Bank – Spain