Formula Student

Hockenheimring offers International Design Competition

Students build a single seat formula racecar with which they can compete against teams from all over the world. The competition is not won solely by the team with the fastest car, but rather by the team with the best overall package of construction, performance, and financial and sales planning.

FSG in Hockenheim Photo: RE

“At Formula Student the extraordinary is ordinary. At Formula Student Germany there simply are no losers”, says Tim Hannig, Chairman of Formula Student Germany: “Formula Student Germany consists of two competitions that run in parallel: Formula Student Combustion – with combustion engines – and Formula Student Electric – with electric motors.” Participants come from all over the world - joining this year were 8 teams from India!

Formula Student challenges the team members to go the extra step in their education by incorporating into it intensive experience in building and manufacturing as well as considering the economic aspects of the automotive industry. Teams take on the assumption that they are a manufacturer developing a prototype to be evaluated for production.

The target audience is the non-professional Weekend-Racer. The racecar must show very good driving characteristics such as acceleration, braking and handling. It should be offered at a very reasonable cost and be reliable and dependable. Additionally, the car's market value increases through other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and the use of readily available, standard purchase components. The challenge the teams face is to compose a complete package consisting of a well constructed racecar and a sales plan that best matches these given criteria. The decision is made by a jury of experts from the motorsport, automotive and supplier industries. The jury will judge every team's car and sales plan based on construction, cost planning and sales presentation. The rest of the judging will be done out on the track, where the students demonstrate in a number of performance tests how well their self-built racecars fare in their true environment.

These 6 days at the Hockenheimring near Karlsruhe were filled with Registration, Event Control, Scrutineering, Tech Inspection, Tilt, Brake, Noise, Fuel, Engine Test, Testing in the dynamic area, Engineering Design & FSE Cost Analysis, Business Plan Presentation, Endurance Session, Design Review – and Awards Ceremony. Static disciplines are: Engineering Design, Cost Analysis, Business Plan Presentation - dynamic disciplines are: Acceleration, Skid Pad / Wet Pad, Autocross, Endurance, Fuel / Energy Efficiency. “If Formula Student didn’t exist it ought to be invented on the spot": it's the opinion of many in the official programme.

Some Participants

Mumbai K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, car 18. 2014, the team decided to focus more on refinement and evaluation of subsystems.

Patiala University Thapar, car 27, equipped with a composite body and and a single cylinder engine.

New Delhi IIT, car 29 - using a 2004 Honda CBR600RR as engine.

Navi Mumbai Pillai Institute of Information Technology, car 34. Engine is a Royal Enfield Classic 500 Efi-Twin Spark, air cooled. 

Faridabad, Manav Rachna International University, car 50. Design, develop & drive is the motto of the team, using a Maruti Suzuki F8b,3-cylinder,modified displacement.

Vellore VIT, car 54. “Pravega” means „High Speed“ in Sanskrit. 

Mumbai Dwarkadas. J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, car 77. DJS Racing makes entry into its debut season with their first Formula Student car.

Bangalore BIT, car 88. BIT Formula Racing is a team from Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bangalore: 30 engineering students of various disciplines.

Manipal University, car 96. The FMX4 should be a more reliable, faster and ergonomically superior car.

Chennai, Indian Institue of Technology Madras, car 99, a team of 30 highly motivated students worked for Raftar Formula Racing.

Karlsruhe KIT, car 65 and car E3. The Formula Student Team of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is building racecars since 2006, since four years they are standing for „one team, two cars“ designing, manufacturing and competing with a combustion car and an electric one.

Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, car 108. High speed is a topic since 2006, around 40 students out of different fields of study participate.

Students build a single seat formula racecar with which they can compete against teams from all over the world. Photo: KIT/FSG

Formula Student International Council: The representatives of the worldwide Formula Student events got together to discuss the future and development of these competitions. Delegates from Australia, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Russia, Spain, Thailand and USA (more than half of all Formula Student events) participated in this meeting at the Hockenheimring near Karlsruhe. This gathering already becomes a tradition and offers the opportunity to exchange knowledge. Among other topics, the participants discussed improvement and learnings from each other.

During the event numerous discussions took place, including between representatives of the KIT and participants from Mumbai. Particularly interesting for the Automotive and Engineering Network: more companies want to join the existing network, says Ralf Eichhorn, Wirtschaftsförderung Karlsruhe and Automotive and Engineering Network, visiting participants of the FSG during the days in Hockenheim: "I also visited the teams from Mumbai. Out of these discussions, an even closer partnership in the automotive sector may result."