Formula Student awards announced

Italy’s University of Modena and Reggio Emilia won Formula Student 2019, beating over 100 undergraduate teams from more 20 countries at the international racing car event at Silverstone which this year also saw the launch of its first autonomous car competition.

Formula Student, which is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, challenges students to use their creativity and technical skills to design, build and race single-seater cars in a series of events at the famous track.

Runner up for the second year running was Oxford Brookes University, while Germany’s West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau took third place.

Formula Student chief judge Terry Spall said: “Congratulations to the Modena team who scooped a number of awards including the coveted 2019 Overall Winner trophy. They entered two cars — a hugely innovative hybrid, which secured the best powertrain installation award and a more conventional, but superbly designed,  petrol engine car which secured them runner up in Engineering Design and several wins in the dynamic events – all driven with such precision, passion and style.  A truly great performance by the Modena team.”

University of Hong Kong achieved second place in the Class 2 Design competition – a commendable achievement for their first attendance at Formula Student UK

Four UK universities competed in the inaugural FS AI event. Edinburgh University received three awards, including overall winner of the AI competition. Representatives from Coventry, Bath and Oxford Brookes universities also received awards for their efforts.

“One of the main highlights of the competition for me has been to see four university teams competing in the FS-AI competition and to actually see them out on the track and the vehicle performing its driverless manoeuvres.  We look forward to welcoming more teams to the FS AI competition in 2020, building on the great innovation we have seen this year,” Chief Judge Terry Spall said, adding:

“Sadly, this will be my last year as the competition’s chief judge. It’s been a fantastic experience and to see so many students go on to amazing careers over the years has been a real privilege. The Chief Judge role will be passed to the very competent and experienced hands of Dan Jones and I look forward to keeping up to date with how Formula Student and particularly the FS-AI competition, progresses in the coming months and years.”

Partners of this year’s competition include Bosch UK, GKN Automotive, MathWorks and Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.