A full list of results and award winners is available on the Formula Student website.
The team’s internal combustion car overcame strong competition from other teams and the July heat to secure victory at the awards evening of the Formula Student event 2022. Receiving the award during the evening of 10 July at Silverstone, the team were overjoyed to lift the trophy and validate their hard work and steady improvements in recent years.
The biggest event of the Institution’s calendar and the most established educational engineering event in Europe, Formula Student tasks teams of university students to design, manufacture and run a single-seater race car. These culminate in the finals event held at Silverstone, which combine formal presentations of their work throughout the year with a range of on-track events that demonstrate the capabilities of their car.
“Unusually for Silverstone the weather has been kind to us and while the only record we’ve seen broken is the temperature at a Formula Student event, it’s been great to see so many teams come back after COVID,” remarked Andrew Deakin, Formula Student Committee Chair. “We hope everyone has enjoyed the chance to compete, learn, get feedback on their cars and enjoy the competition. Congratulations to all winners, especially Glasgow!"
With more than 45,000 engineers having taken part since the UK competition was launched, it continues to develop the skills and talents of students who go on to become engineering leaders in industry, such as University of Bath alumni and former Team Bath Racing members at McMurtry Automotive, who were on-site to showcase their Goodwood-record-breaking vehicle.
With the COVID-restrictions lifted, this year’s competition saw the return of UK and International teams join at Silverstone for the chance to showcase their hard work, as well as the return of thousands of spectators join over the weekend to watch all the on-track action and support the dozens of teams fielding vehicles at the event.
Teams not only had to contend with getting their cars prepared for on-track events but also the hot and dry weather at Silverstone across the five-day event, in a change from conditions at the British Formula One™ Grand Prix held only a week earlier.
Other notable winners in the on-track events this year included University of Malta who won the Endurance event, Cardiff University who won the Acceleration event and Coventry University, winners of the Skid Pad award.
The 2022 competition also saw record numbers of FS-AI participants, with more than a dozen teams from the UK and oversees taking part in presentation events of their work and on-track activities designed to test their team’s autonomous driving systems across a number of real-world driving simulations.
“This is the year FS-AI truly thrived. With six teams making great attempts at the dynamic events and two teams completing the dreaded Trackdrive event, 2022 has demonstrated the clear progress all the teams have made in their autonomous driving systems,” said Holly Watson-Nall, FS-AI chief judge.
“The rookies impressed with Imperial Driverless, Formula Trinity and UPMRacing excelling in Statics, showing that good understanding of simple systems and reasoned decision making can beat complex solutions in engineering, and getting time on the ADS-DV cars. Oxford Brookes Racing Autonomous led the way in Design and Simulation Development by giving excellent presentations and showing their detailed understanding of what they built.“
“I am incredibly impressed by all teams consistently showing a huge capacity for collaboration, support and enthusiasm for sharing resources and knowledge. FS-AI teams embody the spirit of Formula Student by cheering each other on and helping everyone move forwards. 2022 has been a massive success for FS-AI- watch this space in 2023!”
The team from Oxford Brookes University scooped the lion’s share of the presentation awards, while the on-track awards were shared between Edinburgh University and Coventry University, with Edinburgh picking up the overall win for FS-AI dynamic events.
The year on year growth in the FS-AI competition mirrors the growing demand in industry to meet level 5 vehicle autonomy and for engineers to innovate to achieve key milestones.
“Digital and data technologies are really shaping the world we live in, and I’ve been really inspired by the sheer dedication and talent of the students taking part all over the world,” said Dr Richard Drake Chief Technology Officer at Babcock International Group. “In my role as Chief Technology Officer, ensuring we have the right skillset to take us forward into the future is absolutely vital and that’s why I am delighted to support events like this. They really encourage and develop that next generation of engineers and technologists which industry needs.”
“Congratulations to the FS-AI award winners who have done an incredible job not just as individual engineers but they’ve shown what can be achieved through collaboration. I wish them every success for their future careers and to all the teams that have taken part. Well done!!”
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Formula Student committee are grateful for the support of all our partners Autodesk, Babcock International, MathWorks, Bentley Motors and IPG Automotive, together with sponsors Mercedes AMG HPP, MAHLE Powertrain, GKN Automotive, RS Grass Roots, Newton Europe, Saietta Group, AB Dynamics, The Faraday Institution, McKinsey & Company, MultiMatic, Siemens, Royal Automobile Club and Embed UK.
Finally, we would also like to extend a thank you to all volunteers taking part as judges, marshals, scrutineers and event support; without your expertise and enthusiasm the event will simply not take place.
To all competitors who are graduating at the end of Formula Student 2022, we wish you the best of luck at the start of your careers and hope the skills and experiences you gained by competing will serve you well.
For all returning team members; FS2023 will kick off at Learn to Win 2023 on 4 November 2022 at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry and we look forward to seeing you and your new teammates there as we prepare for another exciting year of Formula Student.