The Committee is made up of industry professionals, academic representatives, IMechE personnel, motorsport industry professionals and past competitors.

The next competition will take place in July and will return to Silverstone, the home of the British Formula One^TM Grand Prix. The confirmed dates for the next competition will be released by January at the latest.

Our event date is largely driven by the venue, Silverstone Circuit and the availability of the National Complex. Many events held at Silverstone, including the F1 British Grand Prix, Moto GP, Silverstone Classic and World Endurance Championship as well as FS, have been held there for many years and event dates tend to remain the same or very similar year on year. As a result, the potential to move dates, particularly within the window of opportunity for European events is slim. We do try to avoid clashes with other European competitions as much as possible and there is an annual meeting of the European event organisers with this as part of the agenda. The reality is, however, that there are around 10 weeks in the summer where competitions can realistically take place and more than 10 European events so clashes are, unfortunately, inevitable.

Firstly, Silverstone Race Circuit has excellent facilities, is the Home of British Motorsport and is centrally located for British teams and from ports/airport for those travelling from Europe and further afield. The decision to move the event to Silverstone was taken around 12 years ago and since moving there, FS has grown exponentially in terms of number of teams entering. As such, a move from Silverstone would require us as organisers to identify an alternative with the same capacity and standard of facilities (including large expanses of relatively flat asphalt, garages with power and water supply, space for holding the Business Presentation event and ceremonies and a well-equipped, professionally operated campsite within walking distance) in a location that works for everyone.

Unlike the majority of other competitions, we do not have an entry quiz. Team selections for the UK competition are made by the organising committee based on your submission of a Design Concept Specification outlining your plans for the competition year. Teams are accepted or otherwise based on the BLC, at which point they are required to pay their entry fee to secure their place. From 2020, a place in the competition will not be guaranteed until payment is received.

Simple: make sure that you visit the Team Information area of the FS website for an overview of the rules, key dates for document submissions and make sure you get your documents submitted on time to minimise penalties. Then make sure you submit your Design Concept Specification in time.

Yes! Since 2018 we have amended our rules to enable teams building FSG-spec cars to compete in the UK competition. This is covered within the UK supplementary rules, which are updated after Learn to Win in October.

Any team made up of those studying for a University degree qualification. This may also include those studying for foundation degrees or apprenticeships at Technical Colleges if there is a link to a University. The competition regularly sees first time entries and returning teams from across the UK as well as Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and more: we welcome all teams who want to participate and excel in their chosen field of engineering.

There are three classes of entry available; Formula Student, Concept Class and FS-AI.

For running vehicles with IC, EV or Hybrid powertrains the Formula Student competition exists, where the rules are principally the same as FSG and FSAE but with UK specific supplementary regulations. For new teams who may wish to embark on a 2-year design project, Concept Class exists to provide an opportunity for initial design feedback and the opportunity to test the manufacture of a few components or a rolling chassis without the requirement to design and manufacture a running vehicle in a single competition year.

We also offer FS-AI, an autonomous class with options for teams to either develop their own autonomous FS car or utilise the IMechE’s autonomous vehicle platforms, the ADS-DV. Additionally, if using the common platform, teams can choose to have shared use of the IMechE’s vehicle or even purchase their own for ongoing R&D.

Entry fees for the competition will be available on the Registration page of this website.

Yes! In the last couple of years, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has expanded their financial awards scheme so that teams around the world can apply for and receive funding to compete. Check out the details and application forms here to secure up to 4,500 GBP for your team.

• We are the longest-running Formula Student competition in Europe
• The competition is owned and operated by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the largest professional engineering institution in the world with over 120,000 members worldwide
• The UK competition takes place at the historic Silverstone circuit, a current F1 Grand Prix venue, with cars running on the same track
• As one of the first events in the European events calendar, it’s a fantastic opportunity to get some early testing, feedback and, hopefully, silverware
• Our Judges and Scrutineers have a wealth of experience in industry that can help you not only during the competition but in your careers
• Our sponsors include some of the top engineering employers in the UK and the world and they acknowledge that Formula Student graduates are some of the best engineers available to employ
• We are the most International competition with representation from the largest number of different countries. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive and open competition whilst remaining competitive
• The organising committee are motivated to help as many engineering students as possible to experience and benefit from everything Formula Student has to offer the next generation of professional engineers
• Because racecar. Seriously!

We organise two different FS-AI competition classes: Automated Driving System (ADS) and Dynamic Driving Task (DDT).

ADS: Teams compete with an autonomous car that they have developed and built completely themselves, such as entries from Starkstrom Augsburg and Team Bath Racing Electric. This is intended for experienced teams who are using cars that they are converting to autonomous vehicles or are building from scratch.

DDT: Shared use or private ownership of the IMechE’s own ADS-DV (Autonomous Driving System Dedicated Vehicle) platform, teams develop the software and drivers required to complete a series of ‘missions’, adding any other sensor or processing hardware they need within the rules. The platform is completely open and available for all teams to take a look; view full details on the FS website.

By running our own autonomous vehicle, we allow teams with limited budgets, manpower or other resources the chance to get started with autonomous systems development and hone their skills - including teams of computer science and electrical engineers.

Yes, in fact the UK’s Coventry University are the first team to invest in their own ADS-DV to develop their autonomous vehicle systems. It is not currently necessary for your team to have your own ADS-DV in order to compete in the DDT class, however the benefits of doing so include exclusive access to your own vehicle, more freedom to test multiple sensors and mounting points and ongoing R&D for your University.

Importantly, funding is available from the UK Government to assist teams with purchasing an ADS-DV platform. If your university is interested in the ADS-DV platform, please contact us for more details.

No problem - please submit your question via the FSQD system to get feedback from the Formula Student committee. The team at fs@imeche.org are not engineers and will only be able to answer general or administrative questions.

Please send the FS team an email with the following information for us to generate a supporting letter for your visa application:

• Company/University Name:
• Company/University Address: 
• Name you have registered for Formula Student with (if different to name on passport):
• Name on Passport: 
• Passport Number: 
• Date of Expiry: 
• Date of Birth:

We recommend that all team members requiring visas to attend Silverstone apply for a visa as soon as they register their team for the competition in January.

All competition photos from our media team are available for download in original resolution from our Flickr account.

No matter if it's for a press release, news article, merchandise, clothing, printed material, pop up banner, websites, social media or anything else, you can download and use any photos you like.

Simply add the attribution "IMechE Formula Student" to anything you use and you're good to go!

Absolutely; we are delighted to welcome you back to the competition as part of our volunteer team.

Applications usually open around the January and close by the Spring before each competition; for more information please visit the volunteers section of this website and keep an eye on our social media pages for more information when applications go live.