Formula Student
Because of the online nature of this year's event, we were delighted to welcome several teams who were able to join us from around the world, including TM Racing from Mexico, Bern Formula Student from Switzerland, ION Racing from Norway, FSBizkaia from Spain and NUST FS from Pakistan. All corners of the UK were also accounted for, from SURE and Cardiff Racing in Wales, EUFS and TAU Racing in Scotland to Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, making for a truly international event.
Competition partners and sponsors were also in attendance on virtual exhibition stands, with some contributing to presentations and running product demonstrations of their engineering design packages throughout the day, with input from nToplogy, SOLIDWORKS, Altair and Ansys.
Partners MathWorks and IPG Automotive discussed the advantages of simulation and virtual testing for teams’ vehicles and were able to suggest ways in which all teams could leverage their tools to compete in the relatively new Driver In The Loop and Lap Time Simulation events, which debuted in the 2020 competition.
Meanwhile, FS-AI partner Babcock International hosted a dedicated session for students to hear about the launch of their 2020/2021 graduate recruitment programme and the variety of opportunities across different areas of the business that Formula Student competitors can apply for.
2021 Competition Update
While many of the rules will remain the same as the previous year, Formula Student Chairman Andrew Deakin outlined three possible scenarios that the upcoming competition could take place as, ranging from a mostly traditional live event to a fully virtual one as seen in 2020 (full details are already available on the Forms and Documents page for teams to download).
This additional planning has been designed to mitigate against future restrictions put in place as a result of COVID19, both in the UK and in the countries that teams travel from, and to ensure that as much of the competition can continue as possible so that teams will be able to benefit from the learning opportunities that Formula Student provides.
Guidance for Financial Awards
One of the more popular sessions on the day was hosted by the Awards Committee, where teams could get guidance on completing their applications for a financial award towards their 2021 vehicle. These notes are also available to download on the Forms and Documents page.
FS Rules Released
Rules for the FS-AI and UK supplementary awards are now available for teams to download from the Rules page, while the Key Dates document of all the deadlines will be available shortly.
YouTube Videos available
Finally, two presentations covering the Business Plan Presentation event and EV Scrutineering notes have been made available for all teams to view on our YouTube channel.