GO has presented a €3,000 sponsorship to the University of Malta’s racing team, UM Racing, a student-based voluntary organisation made up of around 25 students from different faculties within the University of Malta.

UM Racing is a research project that kicked off in 2012 to bring University students from various faculties together and through shared knowledge, build a one-of-a-kind race car to compete in Formula Student competitions.

As Malta’s only Formula Student team, UM Racing represents Malta in international Formula Student competitions. Its last competition in Silverstone in the UK in 2022 was UM Racing’s best performance ever, successfully placing third overall out of 110 teams.

In 2022, UM Racing placed third overall out of 110 teams in Silverstone, UK.

UM Racing is currently building Malta’s first fully electric race car with plans to compete in Italy or the UK in July of 2024.

“We felt that the time was right to take this project to the next level and given the improved technology and performance of electric vehicles, we decided to move away from cars powered by internal combustion engines and to focus for the first time on an electric racing car,” explained Shaun Abela, president of UM Racing.

“The design of our new race car in fact, will be based around an Emrax 208 motor which has over 100 horsepower and given that most Formula Student tracks are short and tight, good acceleration is necessary, something that should be more easily obtained from the torque of an EV motor,” he added.

“The excitement around the innovation of this project immediately captured our interest to support UM Racing because as a company driven by an innovative spirit, we felt very much aligned on many levels. As a Company we seek to support initiatives that fit within our corporate sponsorship strategy, which is based on four main pillars: education, digital excellence, connectivity and environmental sustainability,” explained Mandy Calleja, Head of Corporate Communications at GO.

“Therefore the fact that this project turned itself into an innovative method of learning through applied practice, bridging technology and education, with a greener outcome, whilst integrating the value of teamwork and collaboration, fully aligns with our values as a Company too. We are excited to follow the team on this journey and wish them every success,” she added.