Espera Sbarro Rush, 2017
Rush is first and foremost a film about the struggle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in 1976. But the single-seater presented here is rather a tribute to the Formula 1 cars of the 1960s: Matra, Brabham and Lotus 49. But what was Formula One at the time? A simple design (the famous 4-wheel cigar), high power (up to 400 horsepower), a weight of around 500 kg and increasingly sophisticated technical characteristics.
The Espera students of the 2016-2017 class wanted to rediscover this spirit in the Rush single-seater. Everything is there: design, power, except the weight, a little bit higher, but still remarkable nowadays when cars have become "obese".
For the technical part, it's very classic for Espera: a multitubular frame and mechanical elements from a donor car, here an Audi S6 with V8 engine. The gearbox is original, 5-speed mechanical. Nothing modern but effective and relatively simple. The engine is equipped with a small, programmable e-RACE control box to control engine management (for more power? torque? I don't know more).
As usual, the work involved in arriving at this rolling prototype (important detail) is colossal. Just one month from the design to the final vehicle, mobilizing the whole team. Since its presentation, the car has been refined, notably at Jacques Automobiles in the Jura, France for, I quote, a "check-up of the engine environment, pre-adjustment of the cartography, then final adjustment of the bench mapping".
La Rush is number 16: the sixteenth Espera project since the installation in Monbéliard. It would become almost banal to say evrytime, but the Espera students always amaze me and do a feat every time.
engine : V8, 4,2l, 340 hp (from Audi S6)
frame : multitubular
rear wheel drive
5-manual gearbox
engine programmation by e-RACE
wheels : OZ Challenge HLT
tires : Michelin Pilot Sport
weight : 775 kg (or 1000 kg !)
text Philippe Calvet, automatic translation with www.DeepL.com (so be indulgent !)
Sources: school website, various websites.
Photographs from the school's facebook page, the UTBM Flickr page and various photographs found on the net. If you are the owner of a photo and you don't want me to leave it on this site, tell me, I will remove it immediately (this has already happened!).
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