BS BATTERY ACADEMY : EMPOWERING MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

October, 2023

BS BATTERY x Junior Team Suzuki LMS : Sharing is caring!

This week, the BS Battery team went to meet the students of our partner, the Junior Team Suzuki LMS, at Le Mans Sud high school for a BS BATTERY ACADEMY training session. On the agenda, presentations, technical demonstrations and insights, quizzes, and gifts in a lively atmosphere!

As the Official Technical Sponsor of Junior Team Suzuki LMS since 2022, BS BATTERY is proud to support a young French independent team that competes in the French National Superbike Championship and Endurance World Championship (24 hours of Motos – Le Mans). With a professional workshop, partly equipped by the team’s partners, students transform Suzuki 1000 GSX-RR road motorcycles into competition motorcycles. In that sense, the BS BATTERY BSLi-04/06 lithium battery has been selected as the official battery on these models, providing lightness and increased power with extended high performances.

To learn more about this young and exciting adventure, read the interview with the Team manager, Damien Saulnier.

Damien, who are you, and how did you get there?

I am Damien Saulnier, Professor Manager of the Le Mans Sud Suzuki Junior Team and Team Manager of SERT, the Official Suzuki Team that competes in the Endurance World Championship. Regarding my background, I was part of the Le Mans Sud, as a student in the motorcycle-study program. One thing led to another: I went from student to teacher to taking care of the Junior Team Suzuki and managing the SERT Team since 2019 with my partners Jean-François Simon and Claude Michy.

What is the Le Mans Sud Suzuki Junior Team?

Overall, a great human and sporting adventure! The Junior Team Suzuki is an educational structure that depends on national education and the Polyvalent Le Mans Sud High School, a few meters from the mythic Le Mans track. It is a one-year, high-level training dedicated exclusively focus on motorcycle racing. We are recruiting young people from all over France, such as those with a BTS, a professional baccalaureate, and a BTS in motorcycle mechanics. And the goal is to train these young people in the profession of motorcycle racing so that they integrate professional teams in motocross, on the Grands Prix, in road racing, in the jet ski, the automotive industry, and even others who put themselves on their own as entrepreneurs to develop their business.

Why create the Le Mans Sud Suzuki Junior Team?

Because it responds to a demand from the profession. There was a real will for in-dept mechanical training, specialized in racing. Jean-Claude Chemarin had the idea of launching a motorcycle competition training with Le Mans Sud High School. Initially planned for two, three, maybe five years, the program went through a sixth year, then a seventh. In the end, it’s been around for 28 years.

If you had to define the team in a few numbers, what would they be?

- Between 50 and 70 applications every year for only 10 privileged ones selected.
- More than 15 titles of vice-champion and champion in various competitions.
- More than 80 pilots, and 280 mechanics since the origins of the program
- And 2 goals. There is a sporting objective to make the junior’s motorcycles shine and a training objective to find a job following the training.

How is BS BATTERY involved alongside students in the project?

As a strong partner, BS BATTERY supports the team by providing the team with equipment: the lithium battery BSLi-04/06, smart chargers, testers or boosters. The activity works thanks to you, for you, too, for the world of the motorcycle profession. A true win-win!

I’m a fan of these exchanges; such BS BATTERY ACADEMY training on-site is fantastic! It shows the involvement. For two things: first, they learned something new. Then, they loved the day and understood that partners were following us concretely, not just hot air. And BS Battery’s team showered gifts on the guys with caps, neck warmers, jackets, and fleeces. And straight away, the following day, they wore them proudly.

Have you 2024 ambitions?

Sustain success on both counts: sportingly and educationally! On the latest promotions, some have gone to Morocco and will go to the Dakar. Some will go to GMT94. One or two will go to Tech3 to do the Grand Prix. Long may it last! And, of course, to play at the front in the Superstock category in endurance and at the front in the French Superbike championship in the Challenger category.