Formula Student

Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually. 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. It is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and uses the same rules as the original Formula SAE with supplementary regulations.

Formula Student
Sheffield Formula Racing en-route to winning 8 trophies at FSUK 2021 © Thomas Lupson-Darnell
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Worldwide
Country	United Kingdom

Class definitions

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

Formula Student Class (formerly Class 1)

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

Concept Class (formerly 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 FS Class and Concept Class cars, allowing Concept Class to be used for inexperienced students to practise their development in advance of a full Formula Student Class entry.

FS-AI

In 2019 the FS-AI class was introduced for driverless cars.

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 & Manufacturing (115 points)
• Business presentation (115 points)
• Lap Time Simulation (20 points)
• Technical inspection (comprising 6 tests): safety, chassis, noise, tilt, brake, and tech (no points)

Dynamic events

• Skidpad (figure of 8) (75 points)
• 1 km autocross/sprint (100 points)
• 75 m acceleration (75 points)
• 22 km endurance (250 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.

History

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.

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

The FS-AI class enabling driverless cars began in 2019.

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	Uni MoRE	873	Oxford Brookes University	754 (2)	UAS Zwickau	Uni MoRE	Uni MoRE	University of Portsmouth
2020	not held
2021	Silverstone	University of Sheffield	753.9	University of Sheffield	753.9 (1)	University of Central Lancashire	University of Sheffield	University of Sheffield	Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
2022	Silverstone	University of Glasgow	792.9	University of Glasgow	792.9 (1)	University of Glasgow	University of Malta	University of Southampton	University of Porto

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
Uni MoRE
University of Glasgow
University of Sheffield
UT Arlington

Support

Patron: Ross Brawn (former team principal of Mercedes Formula One team),

Ambassadors of Formula Student include David Brabham, Paddy Lowe, Leena Gade, Dallas Campbell, Mike Gascoyne, The Lord Drayson, Baron Drayson (Former Minister of Science) and James Allison.

Notable judges

• Carroll Smith
• Allan Staniforth

See also

• Formula SAE
• Formula SAE Australasia
• Team Kratos Racing Electric
• IIT Bombay Racing
• University of Patras Formula Student Team - UoP Racing Team
• ETSEIB Motorsport
• DJS Racing

External links

• Sheffield Formula Racing
• Team Bath Racing Electric
• Cardiff Racing
• Formula Student
• Ain Shams University Racing team
• Oxford Brookes Racing
• PWR Racing Team
• University of Southampton Formula Student Team
• Swansea University Race Engineering
• IIT Bombay Racing
• Orbit Racing - F1 in Schools
• Team Bath Racing
• Team Kratos Racing Electric
• UH Racing
• University of Birmingham Racing
• University of Portsmouth's Formula Student Team
• UCD Formula Student
• Formula Student FEUP