Cromax® has announced its renewed cooperation with the Swiss Academic Motorsport Association of Zurich (AMZ), after a very successful 2018 season for the team that included a double victory at Hockenheim, Germany, and saw AMZ Racing secure first place on the Formula Student Electric World Ranking.

AMZ Racing was founded in 2006 by students from ETH Zurich, the city’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) university, and one of the top ten universities in the world. Since it was established, AMZ Racing has produced a prototype every year to compete in Formula Student competitions throughout Europe. Formula Student is an internationally recognised motorsports competition specifically developed for students from universities around the world. In 2010, AMZ Racing, the first Swiss team to partake in Formula Student, moved to the eRacing series, which focuses on electric-powered racing cars.

In just eight months, the students have developed the new vehicle for the 2019 racing calendar and have set themselves the clear goal of staying in the world ranking of the world's top 180 competitors.

The chassis of the new race car, mythen, named after the well-known Swiss mountain Grosser Mythen, received its high-gloss finish at the Cromax Training Centre in Pratteln, Switzerland. The design of mythen was developed by the students and was prepared for painting by Clint Kaufmann, Cromax Technical Manager for Switzerland, and Fabio De Giorgi, Cromax Application Engineer for Switzerland.

The carbon fibre chassis was first sanded and then cleaned with Cromax Anti-static Degreaser 3950S. It was then coated with NS2602, a non-sanding primer surfacer, that was mixed with AZ9600 Plastic Additive, both from Cromax.

Then came the important decision on what colour to paint mythen. The team wanted continuity, so quickly agreed to use the same colours they did for 2018. mythen was painted with StarLite, Axalta’s 2018 Automotive Color of the Year - a white pearl colour - as well as a special red pearl effect colour. Finally, mythen received its outstanding finish with Cromax CC6500 High Performance VOC Clearcoat, a quick-drying clearcoat that gives excellent results.

Valentin Oetliker, CEO of AMZ Racing and an engineering student, says, "Numerous technical innovations have been incorporated into mythen, making our prototype lighter and more compact. In fact it's the narrowest chassis in AMZ Racing history. Our electric vehicle weighs less than 160kg with a maximum output of over 200hp.”

The AMZ team has really appreciated the help and support they have received from  the Cromax team in Switzerland. Oetliker continues, "With Cromax as our paint partner, we were able to develop another attractive design without jeopardising vehicle performance. The Cromax team has been very careful that the paint applied has little impact on the total weight - which makes us particularly happy!"

Céline Tambour, Marketing and Communications Manager for Cromax in Switzerland, says of the continued cooperation with AMZ Racing, "Working together again for the second year running has meant we have been able to draw on the previous experience. The coordination between us and the team was perfect, so painting mythen was very productive. What’s more, we really enjoyed supporting students who are so enthusiastic and passionate about their project. It's a great feeling to see them so happy with the results of the painted chassis.”

Mythen was unveiled on 20 May 2019 at the BMW Group Brand Experience Centre in Dielsdorf, Switzerland, and can be seen at various European Formula Student races from July 2019.

More information about the Cromax and its involvement in the project can be found by visiting www.cromax.com/eu/amzracing. Further information about AMZ Racing can be found at www.amzracing.ch. 

About Cromax

Cromax, one of the global refinish coating brands from Axalta, is designed to increase productivity from the front of the bodyshop to the back with coatings systems engineered for fast and accurate application. Our localised business solutions, advanced colour measurement technology, marketing support and pragmatic innovations form the basis of a highly-productive refinish process. Cromax helps bodyshops drive their business forward.