[Formula Student UK] What is Formula Student?

Saturday, May 7, 2011

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.

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
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.


[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_Student]