Formula Student is a global student engineering and design competition in which over 800 teams from across the world participate in 14 worldwide competitions. The student-run teams are posed with a challenge to design, develop and build a single-seater open-wheel racecar across Combustion, Electric and Driverless categories that complies with the regulations of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Unlike other racecar events, the aim is not only to build a fast car but to build one which is efficient in design, cost, sales and marketability. The purpose of the competition is to give students practical experience with working on large engineering projects, preparing them for post-university work. It gives them wide exposure to a real-world scenario and thus, Formula Student alumni are highly sought after by the engineering industry.

 

             The team’s hard work culminates in January at the actual Formula Student event which takes place at the famed Kari Motor Speedway Racing Circuit in Coimbatore. It is here that teams demonstrate to the judges, in a series of events, that the car is fit for a variety of purposes including design methodology, manufacturing feasibility and business mindset along with the dynamic performance of the car over 5 days. The Formula Student competition features two main disciplines, the Static Events and the Dynamic Events. The Static events involve presentations, question and answer sessions which are evaluated by a panel of judges. Dynamic events evaluate the teams based on their cars’ performance on various track events. Teams are evaluated individually for each event, and the total sum determines the overall winner.