Formula Student

The University of Hertfordshire's Formula Student car in the 2006 class 1-200 event

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.

The 2012 Formula Student event was held at Silverstone Circuit in July 2012.

Class definitions [edit]

There are four entry classes in Formula Student, designed to allow progressive learning. New teams to the event can enter a car in any class they choose.

Cars are judged on a variety of static and dynamic events including: Design, cost, acceleration, sprint, endurance and fuel economy.

Class 1 [edit]

This class is similar to the Formula SAE competition and follows said competition's rules. Teams design, manufacture and race fully working cars built solely for the event, the car cannot be entered into Class 1 again after its first year, but can be entered into Class 1A.

Class 1A (pre-2012) [edit]

The full electric Formula Student Class 1A car of the Eindhoven University of Technology

This is an alternative fuelled class with the emphasis placed upon the environmental impact of racing. A car from the previous year's Class 1 entry can 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 are judged in the same events alongside Class 1 however the cost category is replaced by one for sustainability and the endurance event has a higher emphasis placed upon measured emissions. Class 1A cars are scored and ranked independently of Class 1.

Class 2 [edit]

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 2A [edit]

This is a concept class for teams who only have a project and plan for a Class 1A 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 1A and Class 2A cars, allowing Class 2A to be used for inexperienced students to practise their development in advance of a full Class 1A entry.

Judging [edit]

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

Static Events [edit]

Design (150), cost (100) and presentation judging (75)
Technical and safety scrutineering
Tilt test
Brake and noise test

Dynamic Events [edit]

Skid pan (Figure of 8) (50)
1 km sprint (150)
75m acceleration (75)
22 km endurance (300) and fuel economy (100)

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

Venues [edit]

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 [edit]

Year	Location	Class 1	Best UK team	Class 1-200	Class 3	Class 1a
1998	MIRA	University of Texas at Arlington	University of Birmingham	n/a	n/a	n/a
1999	NEC Birmingham	Rochester Institute of Technology	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 Institute of Technology	Leeds University	University of Birmingham	University of Bath	n/a
2002	Bruntingthorpe	Georgia Institute of Technology	Brunel University	University of Hertfordshire	University of Florence	n/a
2003	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	Oxford Brookes University	Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia	Swansea University	n/a
2004	Bruntingthorpe	RMIT University	Oxford Brookes University	UAS Stralsund	University of Bath	n/a
2005	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	University of Hertfordshire	Swansea University	University of Bath	n/a
2006	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	Oxford Brookes University	University of Hertfordshire	Instituto Superior Técnico	n/a
2007	Silverstone	RMIT University	University of Bath	University of Hertfordshire	University of Hertfordshire	n/a
2008	Silverstone	University of Stuttgart	University of Bath	University of Hertfordshire	Eindhoven University of Technology	University of Hertfordshire
2009	Silverstone	University of Stuttgart	University of Bath	TU Munich	Isfahan University of Technology	University of Hertfordshire
2010	Silverstone	TU Munich	University of Hertfordshire	n/a	Instituto Superior Técnico	ETH Zurich
Year	Location	Class 1	Best UK team	Class 1a	Class 2	Class 2a
2011	Silverstone	University of Stuttgart	University of Hertfordshire	Delft University of Technology	University of Bath	University of Warwick
Year	Location	Class 1	Best UK team	Dynamic Events Winner	Static Events Winner	Class 2
2012	Silverstone	Chalmers University of Technology	Oxford Brookes University	TU Munich	Monash University	Instituto Superior Técnico