CAR ENGINEERS, Formula SAE, WOMEN AND ENGINES, sorrow and joy...
"Our first 46" was born in 2005.
Some of the most resourceful students in the first cycle of the degree program in Automotive Engineering had decided to enter the competition between universities organized by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).
The competition's goal: to design and produce a race car that must pass several tests, from design to engineering efficiency.
Since then, we've already had seven "46's" and they compete annually on the three major international racetracks where Formula SAE takes place: Silverstone (UK), Hockenheim (Germany), and Varano (Italy) - always with excellent results.
The cars are designed with the most advanced software such as, but no limited to, Catia, Autocad, Matlab and Hypermesh. They are produced with pioneering and high performance materials: from the chassis made of a chrome-molybdenum steel alloy, to the tailpipes in sintered titanium with ceramic treated surface, to the bodywork in carbon and carbon kevlar - these make our cars highly competitive because of their considerable weight reduction.
And today, our pilot is ... Tania.
"I was ten ... we did city leagues with karts ... I remember the smell of straw and gas ... and then you know, we were little, you'd flip you visor down, give the pilot in front of you a little nudge and then you'd overtake. And then, after the race, while our parents "were swearing at each other", we would play football with plastic bottles ... And you know what? The most aggressive were the mothers! " (Tania Gentile / Cockpit - Driver Interface Designer – Driver).
This is how Tania recalls how her passion for cars started. She turned out to be the fiercest of them all ...
To correctly name all the things that she had learnt from karting, she decided to become an engineer. In 2010 the racing team started the annual pilot selection and a friend convinced her to take part in it.
"The '46' boys were looking for a woman to improve the team's image and my friend knew that I was into karting and that, until proven otherwise, I am a woman ..."
So Tania went from the straw scratches to the Lamborghini prize (skidpad and acceleration) and all the way to... the " winner is....car 46!"
"In the middle of all those guys, it was me, actually me, who was going to collect the prize ..."
