Oxford Engineering Science Formula Student Team return to Silverstone

Held at the start of August, the student team entered the competition with a car for the second year running.

Formula Student is one of the most established educational motorsport competitions and has been running more than 20 years. The intention is to give students from around the world a platform to hone their motorsport engineering skills under the guidance of experts in the field. Teams are encouraged throughout the process to consider all aspects of motorsports from the physical build to the economical viability of the car itself and enables fellow engineers to connect with other student teams and experts alike.

Around 70 Engineering Science students were involved in the team this year, in addition to important contributions by students from other departments. Competing against 120 universities from across the globe, the Formula Student team were up against a strong line-up.

The team successfully passed all primary scrutineering and safety tests with the car, which was the first challenge of the competition, being one of very few entrants to do so. Despite this, adverse weather conditions on the Saturday of the event prevented the team from giving the car a serious run, with torrential rain causing water ingress via an LED on the motor inverters.

This prompted a safety warning, leaving the race car quarantined and unprepared to race the following day – a fate for many competitors. Due to the competition setbacks, attrition remained high.

In the end very few cars successfully completed all stages of the competition, and Oxford placed 55^th overall from around 120 entrants.

It is hoped that 2024 will be the year the team will get an official run on the famous track.

If any students are interested in joining the Formula Student team, please express interest via the Oxford University Racing team website here.