Formula Student

Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually in the UK. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race a small-scale formula style racing car. The cars are judged on a number of criteria as listed below. It is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and uses the same rules as the original Formula SAE with supplementary regulations.

Formula Student
Oxford Brookes Racing finishing endurance at Formula Student Germany 2016
GenreRacing challenge
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Circuit of Silverstone
Country United Kingdom

Ambassadors of Formula Student include David Brabham, Paddy Lowe, Willem Toet, Leena Gade, Dallas Campbell, Mike Gascoyne, and James Allison.

Formula Student partnered with Racing Pride in 2019 to support greater inclusivity across the British motorsport industry for LGBT+ fans, employees and drivers.[1]

Class definitions

There are two entry classes in Formula Student, designed to allow progressive learning.

Class 1

This is the main event, where teams compete with the cars they have designed and built. Teams are judged across 6 categories and must pass a rigorous inspection by judges before being allowed to compete for the dynamic events. There are usually 100-120 teams in this class.

Class 2

This is a concept class for teams who only have a project and plan for a Class 1 car. It can include any parts or work that has been completed in the project so far but this is not necessary. Teams are judged on business presentation, cost and design. Schools can enter both Class 1 and Class 2 cars, allowing Class 2 to be used for inexperienced students to practise their development in advance of a full Class 1 entry.

Class 1A (pre-2012)
The 13th car of DUT Racing, the Formula Student team from the Delft University of Technology

This was an alternative fueled class with the emphasis placed upon the environmental impact of racing. A car from the previous year's Class 1 entry could be re-entered and re-engineered allowing the students to concentrate on the low carbon aspect of the competition without having to redesign a new chassis and ancillaries. Cars in Class 1A were judged in the same events alongside Class 1 however the cost category was replaced by one for sustainability and the endurance event had a greater emphasis placed upon measured emissions. Class 1A cars were scored and ranked independently of Class 1. Since 2012, both Petroleum and Alternative fueled cars have competed for places in the same rankings.

Class 2A (pre-2012)

This was a concept class for teams who only had a project and plan for a Class 1A car. It could include any physical parts or work that had been completed for the project so far, but was not essential. Teams were judged on business presentation, cost and design. Schools could enter both Class 1A and Class 2A teams, with Class 2A allowing inexperienced students to gain competition experience in preparation for a full Class 1A entry.

Judging

The cars are judged by industry specialists on the following criteria:

Static events
  • Engineering design (150 points)
  • Cost & sustainability analysis (100 points)
  • Business presentation (75 points)
  • Technical inspection (comprising 6 tests): safety, chassis, noise, tilt, brake, and tech (no points)

Dynamic events
  • Skidpad (figure of 8) (50 points)
  • 1 km autocross/sprint (150 points)
  • 75 m acceleration (75 points)
  • 22 km endurance (300 points) and fuel economy (100 points)

The winner of the event is the team with the highest number of points out of a maximum of 1000.[2]

Venues

The first event was held at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) proving ground in 1998. Following that, the event was held for three years at the NEC Birmingham between 1999 and 2001. The event was then held on the Go-Kart track at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome between 2002 and 2006, before moving to Silverstone Circuit in 2007 where the competition remains until this day. The dynamic events have taken place on Luffield and Brooklands corners in the past but 2012 saw Copse corner and the National Circuit pit straight being used.

Winners
Year Location Class 1 Points Best UK team Points
(position)		 Class 1-200 Class 3 Class 1a
1998 MIRA UT Arlington University of Birmingham n/a n/a n/a
1999 NEC Birmingham Rochester IT Leeds University n/a University of Maribor n/a
2000 NEC Birmingham CSU Pomona University of Hertfordshire n/a University of Huddersfield n/a
2001 NEC Birmingham Georgia Tech 913 Leeds University 891 (3) University of Birmingham University of Bath n/a
2002 Bruntingthorpe Georgia Tech 936 Brunel University 728 (4) University of Hertfordshire University of Florence n/a
2003 Bruntingthorpe University of Toronto 885 Oxford Brookes University 477 (5) Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia Swansea University n/a
2004 Bruntingthorpe RMIT University 907 Oxford Brookes University 601 (7) UAS Stralsund University of Bath n/a
2005 Bruntingthorpe University of Toronto 884 University of Hertfordshire 764 (7) Swansea University University of Bath n/a
2006 Bruntingthorpe University of Toronto 844 Oxford Brookes University 802 (3) University of Hertfordshire Instituto Superior Técnico n/a
2007 Silverstone RMIT University 925 University of Bath 785 (6) University of Hertfordshire University of Hertfordshire n/a
2008 Silverstone University of Stuttgart 896 University of Bath 691 (4) University of Hertfordshire TU Eindhoven University of Hertfordshire
2009 Silverstone University of Stuttgart 792 University of Bath 715 (4) TU Munich Isfahan UT University of Hertfordshire
2010 Silverstone TU Munich 848 University of Hertfordshire 716 (5) n/a Instituto Superior Técnico ETH Zurich
Year Location Class 1 Points Best UK team Points
(position)		 Class 1a Class 2 Class 2a
2011 Silverstone University of Stuttgart 872 University of Hertfordshire 729 (3) TU Delft (910 points) University of Bath University of Warwick
Year Location Class 1 Points Best UK team Points
(position)		 Dynamic Events Winner Endurance Event Winner Static Events Winner Class 2
2012 Silverstone Chalmers UT 850 Oxford Brookes University 719 (7) TU Munich Chalmers UT Monash University Instituto Superior Técnico
2013 Silverstone ETH Zurich 921 University of Huddersfield 503 (15) ETH Zurich ETH Zurich ETH Zurich Imperial College London
2014 Silverstone TU Delft 855 Oxford Brookes University 733 (6) TU Delft University of Stuttgart University of Stuttgart TU Eindhoven
2015 Silverstone TU Delft 909 University of Bath 748 (4) TU Delft University of Bath University of Stuttgart University of Bath
2016 Silverstone University of Stuttgart 851 University of Bath 708 (4) University of Stuttgart University of Stuttgart ETH Zurich University of Rome
2017 Silverstone Cardiff University 855 Cardiff University 855 (1) University of Birmingham University of Birmingham Cardiff University University of Bath
2018 Silverstone Monash University 864 Oxford Brookes University 772 (2) Monash University Monash University University of Bath University of Bath
2019 Silverstone University of Modena and Reggio Emilia 873 Oxford Brookes University 754 (2) UAS Zwickau University of Modena and Reggio Emilia University of Modena and Reggio Emilia University of Portsmouth

Most wins
Team Class 1 wins
University of Stuttgart 4
University of Toronto 3
Georgia Tech 2
RMIT University
TU Delft
Cardiff University 1
Chalmers UT
CSU Pomona
ETH Zurich
Monash University
Rochester IT
TU Munich
UT Arlington
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Support

Notable judges

See also

References
  1. "Racing Pride join Formula Student". www.imeche.net. Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 5 August 2019.
  2. Formula Student 2013 Rules
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