Kiwa sponsor Forze Hydrogen Racing
In the coming year, Kiwa will sponsor Forze Hydrogen Racing, the student team that specializes in racing on hydrogen. Kiwa not only supports Forze financially, but also contributes in the form of advice and validation of hydrogen systems. Forze Hydrogen Racing has been developing hydrogen racing cars since 2007 and wants to promote hydrogen as the fuel of the future in the automotive sector.
Photo, from left to right: Cecilia Calegari, Daniël Ouwehand, Tim de Klerk and Jasper Ros from Forze Hydrogen Racing next to the Forze VIII.
Kiwa and Forze Hydrogen Racing have been working together for some time. For example, Kiwa was involved in the development of the Forze VIII. In 2018, Forze participated in the Supercar Challenge during the Gamma Racing Days at the TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands with this hydrogen racing car. The team had a world first here by completing the sixty-minute race. This was made possible by equipping the race car with a 700 bar hydrogen tank, instead of the 300 bar version that had been used until then. Forze finished in sixth place, but won the Garage 56 trophy for their innovative design. In 2019, the team even finished in second place.
Forze Hydrogen Racing is now working on a new race car, the Forze IX. The innovations from the previous eight cars are further optimized. Daniël Ouwehand, partnership manager at Forze Hydrogen Racing, is very happy with the new collaboration with Kiwa. ‘Thanks to Kiwa's high-quality test labs and services, we can test and validate our hydrogen systems to ensure they are 100 percent safe. In this way we ensure that safety is not a problem when building and racing the fastest hydrogen car in the world.’
Kiwa's Leendert van der Marel agrees. ‘Forze Hydrogen Racing's performance drive fits in perfectly with Kiwa's commitment to always work to the highest quality standards. As a partner in the energy transition, it is very interesting for us to get started with products that enable the development of vehicles with emission-free fuels. And of course it is interesting for us to work with students, because they are the future after all.'
Image: design drawing of the Forze IX.
Would you like to know more about Kiwa's hydrogen services? Check: www.kiwa.nl/hydrogen.