RUB Motorsport

is a club of enthusiastic and success-hungry students at Ruhr University Bochum. With a passion for motorsports and technology, they develop, design, and build race cars on their own to compete against other universities in international Formula Student contests. Collaborating with various partners from industry and science, they work hard and tirelessly toward their goal of being among the best.

Developing an electric race car means much more than just optimizing engines and aerodynamics – it also involves ensuring reliable and stable communication between all components in vehicles with a large number of control units. This is exactly where Cordial makes an impact.

This season, RUB Motorsport is once again relying on Cordial's CDMX 1 and CCAT 6 HIGHFLEX cables. Originally developed for professional stage and event applications, these cables impress by their excellent mechanical and electrical properties, which make them perfect for being used inside the current race car.

The students use the CDMX 1 for communication lines between the vehicle's control units, which exchange data using CAN, a widely used standard in the automotive sector. Thanks to the almost identical electrical properties of DMX and CAN, this is possible without any problems and allows the motorsport team to communicate reliably and securely within their vehicle. In addition, this solution is 1.4 times lighter – an important criterion in motorsport – and considerably more flexible than the previous, comparable solution.

The Ethernet cables provide connections to central components such as the data loggers, connector panels, or the inverter. The so-called feedback cable, which transmits the rotation of the motor to the inverter, is a very vital signal, and Ethernet cables are perfect for its transmission. Furthermore, they also like to use CCAT 6 for external programming cables, as they are robust and can withstand being accidentally run over by a race car or tool trolley.

Reliable cabling is crucial, especially in the environment of an electric race car, where strong vibrations, temperature fluctuations, and electromagnetic influences are part of everyday life. Cordial's solutions provide the team with great options in terms of weight and performance.

Why Cordial?

Cordial is widely known on account of a very good reputation among some of our team members—those with an interest in stage technology. When searching for alternative CAN cables, the similarities between the protocols came up in conversation, which led us to build our vehicle with Cordial cables—and we will certainly do so again!

This article was written by RUB Motorsport and kindly provided to CORDIAL. Thank you very much!