Delft University team wins Formula Student

German teams claim second and third places

An electric car from the Netherlands has won Formula Student 2014, the world’s largest student motorsport event.

TU Delft, from the Delft University of Technology, claimed the prize at Silverstone this weekend with a total of 855.5 points.

After almost 12 months of planning, designing and building, this year's competition saw about 3,000 of the world’s best young engineers descend on the home of British motorsport to battle it out and see who would be crowned Formula Student 2014 champion.

The University of Stuttgart, from Germany, claimed second place with 836.7 points and their compatriots from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology came third with 828.1 points.

The top UK team was Oxford Brookes University, who came sixth place with 733.4 points. Two other UK teams made the top ten – University of Bath (732.3 points) and the University of Cardiff (649.1).

Alumni of Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, now occupy senior positions at nearly every Formula One team. This year’s event was attended by competition ambassadors Paddy Lowe, Executive Director of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, Caterham’s Technical Director Mike Gascoyne, Willem Toet, Head of Aerodynamics at Sauber F1, and BBC science presenter Dallas Campbell.

Hundreds of people packed the paddocks to cheer on their teams, as a year of work and thousands of hours spent in the garage came down to eight technical and dynamic events.

Taking place at the home of British motorsport from July 9-13, the competition welcomed 106 teams from 38 countries around the world, including 37 UK universities.
Richard Folkson, Formula Student chief judge and president-elect of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “This year's competition was absolutely fantastic, and the quality of engineering on show has never been higher.

“TU Delft were deserving winners – they built a tremendous vehicle which contained various innovative technologies that we'd never seen before in Formula Student.

“There was a tremendous atmosphere at Silverstone for what was a very close competition. Every one of the 3,000 students who took part should be proud of what they've achieved."

Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single seat racing car in one year. The cars are then judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills.