by: David William
The biggest ever Formula Student competition will be staged at Silverstone this summer, attracting engineering talent from all over the globe. The aim is for students to design and build their own single-seater that must meet a raft of exacting technical, design, speed, endurance and environmental criteria.
The biggest ever Formula Student competition will be staged at Silverstone this summer, attracting engineering talent from all over the globe. The aim is for students to design and build their own single-seater that must meet a raft of exacting technical, design, speed, endurance and environmental criteria.
More than 131 teams have already applied to take part in the event scheduled for July 14-17, but the organisers anticipate that the demanding entry conditions will see this whittled down to a list of about 110 teams who will finally compete at Silverstone the week after the British Grand Prix. About 60 per cent of competitors will come from the UK, with other teams flying in from Australia, Germany, Palestine, Nigeria, the US, India and Thailand. Formula Student 2011 will feature the event's highest number of low-carbon cars thus far, taking part in its Class 1A, which assesses cars on their emission levels and sustainability as much as their design and speed.
Entrants score points in each discipline across all categories, so the race is not all about speed; the eventual winner will need to have excelled across all areas. Formula Student is seen as one of the best "laboratories" for future F1 technologies. In fact 16 Class 1A cars will race in July, 13 of which will be electric, with organisers asking whether it raises the spectre of F1 "going electric".
"The electric cars in our Class 1A are now as fast, if not faster, than the petrol cars as the technology catches up," said a Formula Student spokesman. "The petrol car class will be merged with Class 1A next year." The students working on the cars are, say the organisers, future F1 technical directors and chief engineers, a factor recognised by the series' patron Ross Brawn, and James Allison, technical director at Lotus Renault GP, who is ambassador to the event this year.The organisers say they will soon announce an F1 "legend" who will attend the event, following in the footsteps of Damon Hill and David Coulthard.
[source: telegraph.co.uk]
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