This year’s Formula Student competition, held last weekend at Silverstone race circuit, continues to reflect the change of powertrain selection in industry by its entrants.  

Organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and now in its 26th year, Formula Student challenges teams of university students to design, build and run a single seater race car. 

While just over half of all teams opted for an electric powertrain for their single seater entries, the competition’s 33 teams running internal combustion engines were able to use Coryton sustainable fuels, thanks to a grant offered by Motorsport UK. 

The decision to offer these fuels follows their successful debut as an optional choice at the 25th anniversary event in 2023, which saw a third of combustion engine teams opting to run the SUSTAIN fuels. 

The provision of sustainable fuel options ensures that internal combustion engines remain a viable choice for teams in the future, and so that students running these vehicles can continue to benefit from the learning opportunities offered by the competition while meeting requirements for sustainability.  

Australia’s Edith Cowan University was awarded the Motorsport UK sustainable fuel award as well as securing the championship title this year. As with 2023 title-holders University of Modena in Italy, their car’s performance proved positive that the drop in fuels had no negative affect on vehicle performance in a motorsport setting. 

Naomi Rolfe, Project Manager for Formula Student, commented, “This year we were fortunate enough to offer all of the sustainable combustion teams sustainable fuel, which they are all using. We want to be technologically agnostic here at Formula Student, so we don’t just want to have electric vehicles on track as we understand the importance of using existing technology to encourage the students to understand that sustainable fuels are an option for the future of transport. We want the students to understand that they can use a sustainable fuel so that motorsport can have a sustainable future moving forward.” 

Ian Smith, Technical Director, Motorsport UK adds, “Formula Student is a great opportunity for young engineers to gain early experience of design engineering and competition, working to regulations that encourage the adoption of innovative and emerging technologies. The large number of teams opting to compete using internal combustion engines powered by sustainable fuels and their success at the competition, showcases not only that the technology is viable, but also that it offers a compatible and complementary solution alongside battery electric that can accelerate progress to carbon net zero.”