The Motor University in Modena

A specific course for engineers, expressly dedicated to car designing? It has always been a dream for so many boys and university students! It certainly had to be activated in Modena, known as the “Capital of Motors”, the home not only of Ferrari and Maserati: one can find Lamborghini, Ducati and VM Motori nearby. It is not a case, therefore, if almost ten years ago (1995) the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, through one of its teachers -Prof. Giuseppe Cantore- together with Demo Center (specialized service centre), set up the original “Master in Car Engineering” with its relevant annual convention, where media and public could meet and where, especially, students that had finished the course were presented. Today, with the new name “Master in Vehicle Engineering”, this specialization is mainly for people having a degree in Engineering (Mechanical but also Electronic, Materials, Aeronautics and Managerial Engineering).

We have asked some questions to Prof. Cantore, now Director of the Master, who has specified that “the Course lasts about 1100 hours, 600 for theory, lessons and practice and 500 for stages in the participating firms (see above): in total it consists in three/four months of lessons and three months of stage. The subjects cover all the planning elements of the vehicle: from thermo-fluid dynamics and engine structure to chassis, tyres, bodywork, suspensions, brakes and aerodynamics. The Master applies selective entry: only fifteen, max. eighteen graduates are admitted each year. The enrolment fee is low, and almost all the students admitted have finished the course and got the second-level Master certificate. Most of them have been employed by the main firms of this field that sponsor the Master, such as Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ducati Corse, etc”. In consequence of the “short degree”, as provided in the last university reform, last year the University of Modena, still through Prof. Cantore, set up a Course of Specialized Degree (“Vehicle Engineering”) for students who have got the 3-year Degree.

The subjects still include the different planning aspects of the vehicle: from the traditional mechanics of vehicles to the engine computational fluid dynamics and the study of electronics applied to suspensions, brakes and transmissions in general. A new subject has been introduced this year: it is named “Bodywork Designing” and students are showing interest in it. Even if the teacher, the Stylist Engineer Fabrizio Ferrari, has worked as a technician and especially as a designer, this subject is not about the stylistic aspect of the body: it deals with design and planning. It includes a theoretic part about the specific technical design of a body (scale orthogonal projections and relevant form plane) and a part about the international regulations. The students of the course then carry out a study of a whole body, directly on the base of a mechanical lay-out of a rear-central engine sports car of a renown Emilian Car House. To conclude, one must remember that the Specialized Degree in “Vehicle Engineering” will enable to access the above-mentioned second-level post-graduate Master, as they are both kept by the University of Modena.

For further information you can contact directly Prof. Giuseppe Cantore, Director and didactic-scientific superintendent of the Master, at the e-mail cantore@unimo.it; or call Dr. Bezzecchi at Demo Center (059.899602).