Formula Student is an international design competition which was born in the U.S.A. 20 years ago and is now held across the globe. Students build a single-seat racecar for an imaginary company and compete against teams from all over the world. However, the competition is not won by the team with the fastest car, but rather by the team with the best overall performance comprising design, racing success, financial planning and marketing. The challenge for the teams thus consists of designing and constructing a prototype which has very good driving characteristics, is reasonably priced and easy to operate, and allows for the use of standard production parts. The “overall package” is judged by a jury of experts from the automotive and automotive supplier industries. In 2010, the students competed not only by building classic internal combustion engines, but for the first time fought against other teams in a new competition for the design of electric vehicles. In the world’s first Formula Student Electric, the teams had to design a competitive racing car propelled only by an electric motor, plus a battery.

Of the approximately 450 teams in all, Continental supports 31 from twelve countries (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and South Africa), not only by providing material sponsoring but also by helping the teams with know-how. Our purpose behind sponsoring the competition is to interest young engineers in our company and retain them for Continental. The competition gives the students the opportunity to demonstrate their theoretical knowledge in practice and to make contacts with potential employers.