Formula Student UK confirms rules & dates for 2012

December 11, 2011
The competition itself is provisional for the 11-15th July, but there have been a few key changes to the way the event is run. Firstly there is a greater emphasis on sustainability for 2012. This means the ‘cost event’, which previously focused solely on the manufacturing decisions considering the budget, now includes analysis of the powertrain manufacturing decisions in a sustaianability sense. This will include considerations with regards to the material embedded CO2, disposal, toxicity, recyclability and biodegradability. To encourage further integration of teams using alternative powertrains (e.g. Formula Student Electric), or biofuel- all cars, regardless of power source, will compete together in the dynamic events. There is a big pay-off for building a car which runs with minimum environmental damage- 100 points for the CO2 emissions during endurance.

A second change is the introduction of a ‘business logic case’. Submitted in January, the business logic case outlines the teams objectives for the year, to encourage teams to consider the various trade-offs designing a commercially viable racer entails, and to be used to show how teams used a single common concept from the outset when embarking on the project. The business logic case has no points directly associated with it but will be used as reference when judging the other categories of Cost & Sustainability, Business and Design:

  • In the Design event, the business logic case will be used to see the trade off between design for performance and design for manufacture and cost, and how these requirements were considered and whether this is achieved in the realisation.


  • In the Cost event , the business logic case will be used to determine whether cost targets was met for the same design solution


  • In the Business Presentation event, the business logic case will be used to assess whether the business presentation is appropriate for the market and business strategy that was identified

Taken from the Formula Student UK 2012 Rules