Trinity Engineering Students to Develop Next-Gen Ferraris
Posted on: 25 January 2016
Two budding engineers from Trinity College Dublin will soon speed off into the Italian sunset to work with Ferrari in developing next-gen sports car innovations for the iconic motor company.
Engineering Masters students, Niall Williams and Giacinto Rittgers, will spend six months developing hybrid concept aluminium/carbon-fibre chassis structures and optimising energy absorption to minimise car weight.
They will work under the watch of Trinity graduate, Max Szwaj, who is Head of Innovation and Body Engineering Department Ferrari S.p.A. Since leaving Trinity, Max has worked exclusively in automotive design with appointments at Jaguar, BMW, Porsche and, more recently, Ferrari. He is now excited to work with Niall and Giacinto to tackle some of the current challenges facing high-end sports car design.
Max Szwaj said: “Ferrari is delighted to initiate collaboration with the test labs and specific expertise in the engineering school at Trinity through these two new internships under their engineering Masters programme. We are confident that research following from these two projects will lead to significant advances in vehicle structural performance and will expose the students to the reality of working in a highly innovative environment such as Ferrari R&D.”
The first project will see Niall investigate the possibility of integrating carbon-fibre into car chassis, which are currently only made from aluminium, to enhance rigidity and make critical mass savings.
Giacinto, meanwhile, will work on increasing shock absorption, which would have major implications in crash situations as it should increase stability and provide greater safety.
Giacinto Rittgers said: “All my life I have been passionate about car design and, being Italian, I have always felt that Ferrari was the pinnacle of automotive expression through design and creativity. The Ferrari internship through Trinity is a dream come true. I am looking forward to learning as much as I can during the joint project with Ferrari and the University of Modena. It will no doubt be a memorable personal, technical, and professional growth experience for me.”
Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity, Ciaran Simms is a vehicle safety expert who works on crash dynamics. He will oversee Giacinto’s project, while Dr Rocco Lupoi, also Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity, will supervise Niall’s.
Professor Simms said: “This is really a great opportunity for our students and hopefully the start of a sustained cooperation between Trinity and Ferrari and the University of Modena, in which we build over time on the initial undergraduate internships to include more structured research links in the fields of pedestrian and occupant safety, which are central to modern vehicle design considerations.”
Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity, Henry Rice, has helped to coordinate this international exchange.
Professor Rice said: “We hope and expect that bilateral student and staff mobility will ensue from these projects and, in particular, that joint research initiatives will result. Industry framed challenges leading from this exchange could form the basis for further research, in addition to strengthening links and enabling further partnered funding initiatives. It is fantastic to be partnering with Ferrari and we look forward to seeing the fruits of Niall and Giacinto’s labours, which may even appear on the racetrack in years to come.”