Motorsport Engineering

• MDA — Data Acquisition & Analysis: collecting, measuring and interpreting vehicle sensor data in real time
• MEP — Engine Performance & Turbo Matching: combustion theory, turbo simulation and engine performance research
• MSD — Structural Design: calculating and optimising vehicle structures such as chassis, roll cages and suspension components; motorsport wiring
• MVD — Vehicle Dynamics: road holding, suspension geometry, weight transfer and vehicle movement behaviour
• MVA — Vehicle Aerodynamics: CFD simulations using NX Flow, from benchmark exercises to full vehicle aerodynamic optimisation; wind tunnel visit included

In the project, you apply the knowledge from all five modules to a real engineering challenge. Working in a team with a project owner, a company or a lecturer, you deliver concrete results: reports, simulations, measurement data or physical builds. Weekly status meetings and individual time tracking keep the project on course. A final review closes the semester.

Your results in this minor are based on a combination of module work and your project.

For each of the five modules, you complete homework assignments and practicals. These are mandatory conditions for passing the minor. Without them, you cannot complete the semester.

Your project (Minor Technical Projects) is assessed in a final review at the end of the semester. Your grade is made up of three parts: your deliverables (60%), your project report (30%) and your planning and time registration (10%). The review is conducted by your internal supervisors or, if your project is based at a company, by your supervisors there.

Results are published via Progress. After publication, you have two weeks to request feedback on your work.

This minor carries 30 ECTS and has a total study load of 840 hours across the semester.

The five technical modules run in the first part of the semester, each with around four contact hours per week over six to seven weeks. You spend the remaining time on homework assignments, practicals and self-directed study. The project (Minor Technical Projects) runs alongside the modules and takes up the majority of your time — 420 hours in total. Project work continues during assessment weeks, so you maintain a consistent pace throughout the semester.

The minor is offered twice a year. The September start is taught in English; the February start is taught in Dutch. The content of both is identical.

After completing this minor, you are able to:

• analyse and interpret motorsport data using professional data acquisition tools
• model and optimise vehicle structures and aerodynamics using CAD and CFD software
• understand and apply vehicle dynamics theory in a practical engineering context
• work effectively in a multidisciplinary team on a project with a real client
• communicate technical findings through reports and reviews

What makes this minor unlike any other at Fontys Technology is its environment. The workshop is not a simulation of the industry. It is the industry. Alongside your modules and project work, real racing vehicles are being prepared, tested, and improved in the same space where you learn.

Projects change every semester, driven by the companies and racing teams who bring their actual engineering challenges to the minor. Past project owners have included teams competing in the Dakar Rally and various circuit racing series across the Benelux. That means the knowledge you build here is always current, always applied, and always connected to what is actually happening in motorsport.

Motorsport is one of the most demanding engineering environments in the world. And that is exactly what makes it valuable beyond the racetrack. Technologies developed under extreme performance conditions find their way into everyday vehicles: energy recovery systems, lightweight structural solutions, advanced aerodynamics and real-time data analysis are all examples of innovations that motorsport has driven forward.

As a student in this minor, you contribute to that cycle. You work on real engineering challenges in close collaboration with companies from the Brainport Region, one of Europe's leading technology and mobility ecosystems. The knowledge and skills you develop here feed directly into the automotive sector, where the demand for engineers who understand both performance and efficiency has never been greater.