July/August 2019

NEWS Italy’s University of Modena and Reggio Emilia won Formula Student 2019, beating over 100 undergraduate teams from more 20 countries at the international racing car event at Silverstone which this year also saw the launch of its first autonomous car competition. Formula Student, which is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, challenges students to use their creativity and technical skills to design, build and race single-seater cars in a series of events at the famous track. Runner up for the second year running was Oxford Brookes University, while Germany’s West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau took third place. Formula Student chief judge Terry Spall said: “Congratulations to the Modena team who scooped a number of awards including the coveted 2019 Overall Winner trophy. They entered two cars — a hugely innovative hybrid, which secured the best powertrain installation award and a more conventional, but superbly designed, petrol engine car which secured them runner up in Engineering Design and several wins in the dynamic events – all driven with such precision, passion and style. A truly great performance by the Modena team.” University of Hong Kong achieved second place in the Class 2 Design competition - a commendable achievement for their first attendance at Formula Student UK Four UK universities competed in the inaugural FS AI competition. Edinburgh 8 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS July/August 2019 www.hpmag.co.uk University received three awards, including overall winner of the AI competition. Representatives from Coventry, Bath and Oxford Brookes universities also received awards for their efforts. Spall continued: “One of the main highlights of the competition for me has been to see four university teams competing in the FS-AI competition and to actually see them out on the track and the vehicle performing its driverless manoeuvres. We look forward to welcoming more teams to the FS AI competition in 2020, building on the great innovation we have seen this year. “Sadly, this will be my last year as the competition’s chief judge. It’s been a fantastic experience and to see so many students go on to amazing careers over the years has been a real privilege. The Chief Judge role will be passed to the very competent and experienced hands of Dan Jones and I look forward to keeping up to date with how Formula Student and particularly the FS-AI competition, progresses in the coming months and years.” Partners of this year’s competition include Bosch UK, GKN Automotive, MathWorks and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. Italy’s University of Modena wins Formula Student 2019 competition at Silverstone Webtec, the specialist manufacturer of hydraulic measurement and control products, has formed Webtec (Europe) GmbH, a new company located in Leverkusen, near Düsseldorf. The strategic focus of the new company is to help improve the productivity of heavy machinery by assisting European manufacturers and associated supporting companies deliver a better service with Webtec’s high-pressure hydraulic measurement and control solutions. The company, headed by Martin Cuthbert, Webtec’s managing director, has recently appointed Patrick Neubert in the new positon of business development manager for Europe. Neubert brings a wealth of technical and industry experience to the role having gained a Dipl. Ing, from the University of Applied Sciences Bonn- Rhein-Sieg and with over 12 years spent working in the hydraulics and fluid power industry in a variety of specialist sales and product marketing roles. Webtec (Europe) GmbH will service customers throughout Europe in conjunction with Webtec’s regional office in Northern France and will operate in a similar way to Webtec’s other territory subsidiaries in the USA, Asia and the UK. The team, who will be fully operational in the last quarter of 2019, will be looking to support and grow the European distributor network as well as working more closely with OEM’s in the fluid power, construction, mining and agricultural machinery sectors. Martin Cuthbert commented: “We spoke to a many key customers throughout Europe and there was an overwhelming positive response to having a company registered in Germany. Not only will this make future trading seamless but means we are ideally placed to offer customers local support and creates great opportunities for business growth.” Webtec opens German office