Formula Student is an international student design competition in which university teams from all over the world develop, build, present and operate their own formula racing cars. The ELBFLORACE Formula Student team at TU Dresden is one of them. Founded as a registered association in 2006, around 80 students are actively involved in the project every year and are already building their 18th vehicle in the 2025/26 season. This will drive fully electrically around the racetracks of Europe. In a global comparison, their performance has placed them in the top 10% for years. These results would be impossible without the support of the university and industry sponsors, including ACE.

The vehicle from the previous season, EFR17ed05, also known as "ZoE", weighs only around 168 kg and accelerated from standstill to 100 km/h in under 2.3 seconds in the summer of 2025 with four water-cooled wheel hub motors of 35 kW each, inverters developed in-house and a monocoque made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). To control the speed of the racing car, the driver has an acceleration pedal and a brake pedal at his disposal. In addition, the drive is supported by several self-developed controls which, for example, monitor tire slip or allow more agile cornering through torque vectoring.

Pedal design and gas springs for special requirements

Compared to a standard passenger car, the pedals are connected to the vehicle in a significantly different way, have a different pedal travel and also meet higher requirements in order to provide the driver with a suitable driving experience. For example, greater vibrations, the dynamic response of the vehicle and the lowest possible physical fatigue for the driver must be taken into account. Both pedals are mounted on their own carriages so that their position can be optimally adjusted for the changing drivers.

To accelerate the racing car, the driver has a pedal made of CFRP, which is mounted on a 3D printed sled, also made of CFRP, for movement on the CFRP tube rails. The pedal's pivot point is at the driver's heel in the form of a magnetically doped bolt. The rotation of the pedal and thus of the bolt is determined redundantly via two differently designed Hall sensors. Two parallel industrial gas pressure springs stabilize the pedal travel and provide the rider with additional mechanical resistance for the riding experience. This resistance can be adapted to the driver's feedback. ACE Stoßdämpfer GmbH is a major supporter in this area of racing car design, having sponsored ELBFLORACE e.V. for several years with GS-10-20-AD-100N and GS-12-20-AD-100N industrial gas springs. Contact with the company is always uncomplicated, courteous and peppered with valuable information, for which the team is very grateful.

Compact, lightweight machine elements for optimum integration

Due to the Formula Student regulations and the associated safety requirements, the design freedom of the brake pedal is limited. Accordingly, the pedal, the carriage and the rail are made of the aluminum alloy EN-AW-7075 and only the foot guides are made of CFRP. When the brake pedal is pressed, a diaphragm force sensor mounted in series is actuated up to the force defined by the individual gas pressure spring. the racing car is braked and the energy recovered via the output signal of the load cell and the recuperation of the four electric motors. Mechanical braking is only initiated via the two master brake cylinders for the front and rear brake circuits when the breakaway force is exceeded and the gas pressure spring moves significantly as a result.

In particular, the defined insertion force when the piston rod is extended and the negligible distance until this is reached justify the use of gas springs for the Formula Student Team ELBFLORACE. This ensures that the mechanical braking process and the associated energy loss is only initiated at the designed pedal pressure. In addition to ELBFLORACE, gas struts can also be found in the Formula Student vehicles of numerous other teams. All of them take advantage of the fact that gas springs are compact and lightweight compared to other spring types. This allows them to be used in the narrow front end of formula motorsport cars.

Thanks to the individually adjustable gas pressure via a filling valve and the simple replacement of the entire spring, ELBFLORACE is flexible when it comes to retrofitting the pedals. The dimension of the gas spring is independent of the extension and retraction force within the scope of the application. The gas springs from ACE Stoßdämpfer GmbH are maintenance-free and their service life far exceeds the period of one season, even with intensive use.

Gas springs made of lightweight materials in the future?

In summary, the ELBFLORACE Formula Student Team TU Dresden e.V. shows how innovative technology and targeted development processes can achieve top performance in a student environment. With a highly motivated team and the use of state-of-the-art materials and technologies, vehicles are developed every year that set standards in terms of lightweight construction, drive technology and control engineering. The combination of theoretical knowledge and practical application not only optimally prepares students for their professional future, but also promotes technological progress in the field of electric and autonomous motorsport.

In order to further optimize lightweight construction, it would be desirable for ELBFLORACE e.V. to participate in the development of gas springs made of lightweight materials and implement them in vehicles in the future. The continuous support and close cooperation with industrial partners such as ACE underline the importance of the project for education and the spirit of innovation at universities worldwide.