Saints Performance Automotive Design (SPAD), the University of St. Andrews Formula Student team, is in its inaugural year and seeking members to join their team of motorsport enthusiasts. SPAD’s membership is from a broad array of subjects across the University, united in their aim to design a competitive open-wheeled racing car to compete at Silverstone.

Formula Student (FS) is Europe’s most established educational engineering competition and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018. Backed by industry and high-profile engineers such as Patron, Ross Brawn OBE, the competition aims to develop enterprising and innovative young engineers and encourage more young people to take up a career in engineering. Each year, Formula Student UK sees more than 100 university teams from around the globe travel to Silverstone to compete in events that will test their preparation and hard work.

The project usually forms part of a degree-level project and is viewed by the motorsport industry as the standard for engineering graduates to meet, transitioning them from university to the workplace. It is a kite-mark for real-world engineering experience, combining practical engineering experience with soft skills including business planning and project management.

Despite its size, Scotland has always been at the forefront of international motor racing. Scottish drivers have won five Formula 1 world drivers’ championships since its inception 70 years ago, and four Indianapolis 500s – nearly 20 percent of all the non-American winners. Even with this history, Scotland has only a handful of Formula Student teams in a competition that includes over 100 universities from around the world. For this reason, SPAD is committed to playing its own part in maintaining this storied national legacy.

If you would like to get involved in either engineering or logistics, contact student directors Sonya Hammer and Oliver Frank at [email protected].