18 November 2020 - The cooperation between Cromax®, one of the global refinish brands of Axalta a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, and the Academic Motorsports Association of Zurich (AMZ) Racing Team continues for the third year. The painting of the new chassis, which was originally planned for April 2020, was carried out successfully in June in line with all local social distancing guidelines.

The design of alvier, AMZ’s electric racing car named after the famous Swiss mountain, was developed by the students of ETH Zürich, the city’s STEM university. Clint Kaufmann, Axalta Technical Manager for Switzerland, and Fabio De Giorgi, Axalta Application Technician for Switzerland, prepared alvier for the painting process in the Axalta Training Centre in Pratteln, Switzerland.

The carbon fibre chassis was sanded with P240 and P320 and cleaned with Cromax Anti-static Degreaser 3950S. The chassis was then coated with the Cromax NS2602 Non-Sanding Primer-Surfacer, in conjunction with the Cromax Plastic Additive AZ9600.

The students from the AMZ team wanted continuity in the car’s colour selection. They quickly agreed to use the same, tried and tested colours from 2018 and 2019. alvier was painted with StarLite, Axalta's 2018 Automotive Color of the Year - a white pearl colour – as well as a special red pearl effect colour. Finally, alvier got its extraordinary shine, which the vehicle will proudly display during the Formula Student event, from Cromax CC6750 Ultra Performance Energy Clearcoat.

A particular advantage of this clearcoat is that it cures quickly at low temperatures. For alvier this meant its carbon fibre chassis and its sensitive electronic parts were protected. Traditional curing methods at higher temperatures could have damaged these.

Since its inception, the AMZ Racing Team has been taking part in Formula Student competitions across Europe with a new prototype every year. Formula Student is an internationally recognised motorsport competition aimed at students from all over the world.

Due to the pandemic, all races were cancelled in 2020, so the AMZ team has concentrated on assembly, a longer test phase of the new racing car and the transfer of knowledge between alumni and the new team members.Dario Messerli, previous CEO of AMZ Racing and student of engineering, says, “Despite all the challenges this season, we have not lost sight of our goal. That's why we're incredibly proud to reveal the 14th car in the club's history: alvier.”

The AMZ team appreciated the good, efficient cooperation with the Swiss Cromax team. Messerli says, “With Cromax as our coating partner, we developed a successful design together again. The Cromax team made sure the paintwork had little impact on the overall weight, which is a very important requirement for vehicle performance.”

Céline Tambour, Customer Networks Leader at Axalta Switzerland, says, “This year, teamwork projects such as these are not easy to implement. We have all remained flexible and have respected safety and distance guidelines. We wish the AMZ Racing Team all the best for 2021.”

alvier was officially unveiled on 21 October 2020 and is scheduled to take part in various European Formula Student races in the season starting in July 2021.

For more information about Cromax, please visit www.cromax.com/eu. For more information about AMZ Racing, please visit www.amzracing.ch.

About Cromax

Cromax, a global refinish coating brand from Axalta, is designed to increase productivity. Our coatings are formulated specifically to optimise business with advanced time-, energy- and material-saving processes that increase throughput and lower operating costs. Our value-added solutions provide customers with the most advanced systems to get the best out of the entire workflow. And our smart tools, our people’s in-depth knowledge and our strong approved networks all make our bodyshop customers more attractive to work providers. Cromax - drive your productivity.