Affalterbach— With HYRAZE League, HWA AG is planning an innovative and revolutionary automobile racing series for the motorsports of the future. The concept of the new racing series is based on a future-oriented technology platform, with the goal of introducing hydrogen racing vehicles from the year 2023.
The future technologies used make HYRAZE a climate-friendly and sustainable racing series. Shaping the mobility of the future is currently one of the biggest challenges for the economy and industry. A similar change is also imminent for motorsports. In order to implement the project, several strong partners have come together to develop a completely new concept and to reposition parts of motorsports in line with the spirit of the times. HYRAZE League is to be the world’s first automobile racing series to rely on environmentally friendly produced hydrogen as an energy source. The result will be an almost emission-free, safe and sustainable form of motorsport, which at the same time offers entertainment at the cutting edge.
Thanks to the state-of-the-art technology, action-packed motorsport, resource conservation, and safety are not contradictory in the HYRAZE League. The races are held with 800 hp hydrogen cars. The energy for the emission-free drive is supplied by green hydrogen, which is converted into electricity for the 4 electric motors in the two fuel cells of the racing cars. The new technology also has a significant advantage for the racing drivers: thanks to the energy concept optimized for sprint races, they can use the full performance of the vehicle without restrictions over the entire race distance. Thanks to the possibility of filling the two tanks quickly during a race – a fundamental advantage that hydrogen technology offers compared to purely battery electric vehicles – the races can be extended at any time, even over long distances.
The founding partners of this project include ADAC e.V., DEKRA SE, DMSB e.V., Schaeffler AG, and WESA, as well as HWA AG. The overall concept and essential components of the vehicle are developed by HWA AG.
HYRAZE League will also break new ground in the sportive mode: Racers, sim racers, and spectators can look forward to an innovative format that combines real and virtual racing in one series for the first time. The innovative combination of real racing events and e-sports takes into account the digital change in society. The teams have two drivers for each car – one for the real races and one who takes part in the e-sport events, which also count as part of the championship. The results of both races are equally divided in the championship standings so that in the end one team is declared the overall winner of both disciplines – an absolute novelty in motorsport. The e-sports association WESA (World eSports Association) is a series partner and plays a decisive role in the development of the general conditions in the virtual environment in order to raise the HYRAZE League Sim competitions to the absolute top level of e-sports. Rules and regulations, arbitration and the fair integration of teams and gamers are WESA’s core competencies in the world of electronic games.
“In order to find broad acceptance in society, motorsport must become lower-emission, more sustainable, and more cost-effective. We want to use our experience as a vehicle developer and racing team to bring an innovative racing series to the start with the HYRAZE League, which fulfills exactly these requirements. We are pleased that we were able to gain experienced partners to support us in the implementation of the project at this early stage. HYRAZE will offer the best entertainment and, by integrating e-sports, will get the young target groups excited about motorsports again. For us and our partners, it is also very important that a technology transfer towards series production takes place. Motorsports can once again take a pioneering role in the development of road vehicles in the field of hydrogen technology and zero emissions”, says Ulrich Fritz, CEO of HWA AG.
Finally, by using state-of-the-art technology in all areas, HYRAZE provides important impulses for technology transfer and is thus the optimal development platform for the mobility of the future. Future-oriented drive systems, resource-saving automobile production, and extreme safety represent a development boost for series production.
About HWA AG
HWA AG is an independent, 360 engineering specialist in the fields of automobile racing and high-performance cars. Formed in 1998 by Hans Werner Aufrecht, the company is based in Affalterbach (Germany) and employs around 300 highly-qualified members of staff. HWA AG offers all its products and services under the corporate slogan ENGINEERING SPEED: The company’s objective is to develop the best possible high-quality solutions, in order to get its partners and customers to their destination quicker. The portfolio of services ranges from designing all vehicle components to assembling complete cars, together with the relevant logistics, after-sales and support services.
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