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 will be held at Silverstone Circuit in July 2012.

Class definitions

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

Class 1

This is the class which is similar to the Formula SAE competition in which 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

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

This is an alternative fueled class where emphasis is placed on the environmental impact of racing. A car from the previous years Class 1 entry can be re-entered and re-engineered to allow the students to concentrate on the low carbon aspect

Class 2

This is a concept class for teams who may just have a design and possibly even a partly completed car.

Judging

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

Static Events

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

Dynamic Events

• 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.

Venue

Silverstone

The event is held at the Silverstone circuit, with the dynamic events taking place on Luffield, Brooklands and the pit straight. The event has been held at the Silverstone circuit since 2007.

Bruntingthorpe

The event was held on the Go-Kart track at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome between 2002 and 2006.

NEC Birmingham

The event was held for three years at the NEC Birmingham between 1999 and 2001.

MIRA

The first event was held at the Motor Industry Research Association proving ground in 1999.

Winners

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	Class 1-200	Class 3	Class 1a
2010	Silverstone	TU Munich	University of Hertfordshire	n/a	Instituto Superior Técnico	ETH Zurich
2009	Silverstone	University of Stuttgart	University of Bath	TU Munich	Isfahan University of Technology, Iran	University of Hertfordshire
2008	Silverstone	University of Stuttgart	University of Bath	University of Hertfordshire	Eindhoven University of Technology	University of Hertfordshire
2007	Silverstone	RMIT University	University of Bath	University of Hertfordshire	University of Hertfordshire	n/a
2006	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	Oxford Brookes University	University of Hertfordshire	Instituto Superior Técnico	n/a
2005	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	University of Hertfordshire	Swansea University	University of Bath	n/a
2004	Bruntingthorpe	RMIT University	Oxford Brookes University	UAS Stralsund	University of Bath	n/a
2003	Bruntingthorpe	University of Toronto	Oxford Brookes University	Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia	Swansea University	n/a
2002	Bruntingthorpe	Georgia Institute of Technology	Brunel University	University of Hertfordshire	University of Florence	n/a
2001	NEC Birmingham	Georgia Institute of Technology	Leeds University	University of Birmingham	University of Bath	n/a
2000	NEC Birmingham	CSU Pomona	University of Hertfordshire	n/a	University of Huddersfield	n/a
1999	NEC Birmingham	Rochester Institute of Technology	Leeds University	n/a	University of Maribor	n/a
1998	MIRA	University of Texas at Arlington	University of Birmingham	n/a	n/a	n/a

Support

• Patron: Ross Brawn (team principal of Mercedes GP),
• Ambassador: The Rt Hon Lord Drayson of Kensington (Minister of Science)

Notable judges

• Carroll Smith
• Jon Hilton - Flybrid systems, ex Renault F1
• Andrew Deakin - Renault F1
• Chief Judge - Richard Folkson, ex Ford
• Neil Anderson
• Alex Hickson
• Dan Jones - Flybrid Systems
• Allan Staniforth
• David Gould - Gould Racing
• Claude Rouelle - OptimumG
• Pat Clarke
• Nick Vaughan
• Matt Wilkin - Brawn GP
• Ben Michell - Dunlop Tyres

See also

• Formula SAE
• Formula SAE Australasia

External links

• Formula Student