Formula SAE: at the Autodromo Riccardo Paletti in Varano de' Melegari there will be single-seaters built by university students.

From today, Wednesday 11th until Sunday 15th July, the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) championship will be held at the "Riccardo Paletti" racetrack in Varano de 'Melegari,. Around 2,600 students will participate in the event representing 84 teams - 14 of which are Italian - in static and dynamic tests that will present highly technological single-seater cars, judged by a special jury.

All categories in the race
Universities are challenged in static and dynamic activities studied ad hoc to test the projects, the mechanical solidity, the performances and the efficiency of the prototypes. Each phase - if passed - guarantees the score that, added to that of the others, will determine the final winner. Four categories of cars, divided according to the type of fuel and budget available to the university:

1C: prototypes with petrol engines almost always derived from motorcycles and self-built chassis. 52 cars registered.
1E: prototypes with electric motors. A category that usually includes the top teams, that have greater financial resources and support sponsors. 19 cars registered.
1D: autonomous driving prototypes with electric motors (driverless). News of 2018, for the first time in Italy after having debuted in Germany. 7 cars registered.
3: electric or combustion engine prototypes that due to limited budgets participate only in static tests. 6 cars registered.

During the event, the teams will be engaged in static and dynamic tests depending on the category of participation.

The debut of the prototypes with autonomous driving
In recent years, giant leaps in technology and the continuous development of electric engines have convinced all the big manufacturers to start the experimentation on the road of unmanned cars. For this reason, some of the most important European universities in the engineering field have seized the opportunity to launch a program to create self-driving prototypes with which to compete within the Formula SAE world championship in the "Driverless" category.