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For the first time in two years, more than 130 teams from over 30 countries will have the chance to showcase the results of their hard work in formal presentations and dynamic events at the home of British motorsport.
The longest running of the IMechE’s student events, the annual Formula Student competition challenges university students to design, manufacture and run a single-seater race car. With thousands of students participating each year, it is a kitemark for real-world engineering experience, combining practical work with soft skills including business planning, teamwork and project management, helping to prepare a new generation of talent to enter the workplace.
Most notable for 2022 is the large number of electric vehicles taking part, with nearly half the teams so far having submitted vehicles in this category. This includes many teams that have fielded strong petrol combustion vehicles for many years and will be debuting their first electric vehicles, such as the University of Birmingham, University of Southampton, Heriot-Watt University, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Liverpool. This emulates the trends seen in industry.
Similarly, the competition’s FS-AI event has grown in step with the increasing demand in industry to meet level 5 vehicle autonomy, with 15 teams from around the world taking part this year. Using either the competition’s ADS-DV vehicle or their own scratch-built cars, teams must develop autonomous driving systems to undertake several real-world driving scenarios for an AI driver to complete, covering track drive, acceleration and skid-pad track events.
There are always plenty of stories to watch unfold over the course of the competition. Last year’s winners from the University of Sheffield are quietly confident that their latest combustion car will be able to stave off the challengers. There are also honours up for grabs in the electric competition, with the title holders from the University of Nottingham facing a tough group of rivals as they adapt to a new powertrain type.
It’s not too late to plan to attend. Book tickets online, or follow all the action on the Formula Student YouTube channel.
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