The world’s best young engineers are on course for Silverstone as Formula Student UK gears up for its 20th competition.
The global competition, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, is the world’s largest student motorsport event and challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year.
Dozens of Formula Student alumni have progressed to Formula 1, and hundreds more are now working at the world’s largest automotive firms, including Mahle Powertrain, Bosch and Jaguar Land Rover,helping to design and engineer the cars of tomorrow.
Applications were received from teams around the world, and 116 have successfully claimed a place for the competition at the home of British motorsport on 20-23 July 2017. A further 21 teams are on the waiting list for a vastly oversubscribed Class 2 competition, which is set for a record number of entries.
Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports, is Patron of the competition and Ambassadors include Paddy Lowe, former Executive Director of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, Willem Toet, former Head of Aerodynamics at Sauber F1, former Formula 1 driver David Brabham and Le Mans 24-hour race winning engineer Leena Gade.
Top UK team from the 2016 competition,Team Bath Racing, from the University of Bath, will compete alongside their EV counterparts and 70 more UK University teams including Oxford Brookes, Hertfordshire and Leeds.
Teams from Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, The Netherlands and Turkey will descend on the Northamptonshire circuit for a full four days of competition, which promises to be one of the most hotly contested in recent years.
Andrew Deakin, Chairman of Formula Student, said:
“It’s brilliant to see so many teams from around the world applying for Formula Student 2017 – it shows that the competition remains one of the most important learning experiences for those aiming to combine their studies with exposure to a real world engineering project.
“Formula Student is a global competition and we want to continue to encourage brilliant young engineers from across the globe to improve their practical skills and get ready to play their part in the vibrant worldwide engineering community.
“The innovation demonstrated by these young engineers gets more impressive every time and I’m extremely excited to see what they have in store for us this year.”
Formula Student will take place in Silverstone on 20–23 July. The cars are judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills.
Formula Student partners and sponsors for 2017 include GKNMathWorks, Exxon Mobil and Infiniti Engineering Academy.
Journalists are invited to attend
WHEN: 20-23 July 2017
WHERE: Silverstone Circuit
Towcester
Northamptonshire
NN12 8TN [map]
For further information or to attend please contact:
Seun Von Robert-Edomi at s_vonrobert-edomi@imeche.org
Tel: 020 7973 1261
Mob: 0786 487 6252