Carbon Cylinder for UniBo Motorsport

Composite technology and engineering education

A project bridging academia and competition

Since 2009, UniBo Motorsport has represented the University of Bologna in Formula Student competitions. In just over a decade, the team has grown to nearly 250 students from multiple faculties, structured and operating like a real company.

Each year, three prototypes are developed: a hybrid single-seater (Genesi), a fully electric car (Athena), and an electric motorcycle (Nemesi).

Behind these results lies a highly structured organization involving more than 250 students from different academic backgrounds, working day and night in university laboratories and workshops.

The approach mirrors professional motorsport: dedicated departments, clear objectives, structured design processes, testing and validation cycles. The outcomes are tangible, with podium finishes achieved in competitions against more than 500 rival universities.

The team is not only a talent incubator, but also a hub connecting academia and industry. It counts over 170 partner companies, prestigious collaborations with Lamborghini Squadra Corse and Fondazione Ducati, and high-profile events such as Motorfest and the annual Unveiling, where prototypes and sponsors gain maximum visibility.

A technical sponsorship: the cylinder at the core of the partnership

Carbon Cylinder supports UniBo Motorsport through a concrete technical contribution: a next-generation Type 4 composite cylinder.

This is a high-pressure composite vessel with an internal polymer liner, engineered to:

• withstand working pressures up to 310 bar;
• exceed burst pressures between 1,000 and 1,050 bar (compared to the 900 bar required by EN 12245 and ISO 11119-3);
• endure more than 30,000 charge–discharge cycles — over twice the minimum requirement for unlimited life approval (NLL), set at 12,000 cycles;
• maintain structural integrity after extreme testing, including a 1.2 m drop test, exposure to direct flames at 590 °C for 2 minutes, 2,000 hours at +70 °C under pressure, and ballistic testing with armor-piercing projectiles.

The result is a dual advantage: reduced weight (up to 30% lighter than Type 3 cylinders) and proven reliability under conditions that go well beyond standard requirements.

Value for the team and for the company

For UniBo Motorsport, the cylinder represents a tangible opportunity to integrate cutting-edge technology into both prototypes and laboratory activities. Working with real components already validated through rigorous testing allows students to gain hands-on experience in how market-ready solutions are developed and certified.

For Carbon Cylinder, the sponsorship is a way to validate and showcase its technology within a highly competitive and technical ecosystem. Race conditions and the team’s development processes provide a demanding test bench, where every component must be lightweight, safe, and easily integrable.

A symbol of technology and the future

The cylinder supplied by Carbon Cylinder stands as a concrete symbol of collaboration.

It embodies the connection between university and industry through a component that combines safety, lightness, and durability.

In a context like UniBo Motorsport — where every gram and every bar of pressure matters — the cylinder becomes a clear expression of what Carbon Cylinder pursues every day: innovation in composite materials, extreme testing, and the development of solutions designed to anticipate the future.