ATA Formula | September 22-25, 2005 - Balocco (VC)

This event, which was organised by the Associazione Tecnica dell'Automobile (ATA) and Centro Ricerche Fiat, involved thirty teams from universities all around the world, with more than two hundred Engineering students and graduates who challenged each other in a two-pronged competition:

• Formula SAE Italy, which was created in America in 1981 by the Society of Automotive Engineering and immediately spread around the world. The event in Balocco is part of an international calendar of events that visited the United States last June, Great Britain in July and Germany in August. Eighteen teams of students took part, presenting the project or prototype of a single-seater racing car developed by themselves, and they competed in static (characteristics of the car, consumption, weight) and dynamic tests (steering pad, acceleration, braking), and in pursuit races.

• Formula Tech, which is dedicated to two, three, or four-wheeled vehicles with alternative environment-friendly propulsion systems; prototypes were exhibited with hydrogen, hybrid, electrical and fuel cell engines produced by various companies in collaboration with the competing universities. The prototypes were judged by a technical commission of experts from C.I.V.E.S., A.V.E.R.E. and W.E.V.A.

The Formula SAE event was won by Graz University, followed by the project from Florence University and the Austrian university's second team. The winners on the Formula Tech podium were all Italian: first prize went to Turin Polytechnic, second prize to Bologna university and third prize to Pisa university.

The next edition of the Formula ATA will be held in Balocco from September 7 to 10, 2006.

www.ata.it