Now in its seventh edition, the Formula Bharat student competition has announced Veloce Racing and STES Stallion Motorsport Electric as the overall winners of the 2023 edition. Similar to the previous season, this year’s event also adopted a hybrid approach, with virtual events and on-track events at Coimbatore’s Kari Motor Speedway.

1. Veloce Racing win in combustion category
2. STES Stallion Motorsports Electric team win in EV category
3. Registration for next year’s edition expected to open April-May

Formula Bharat: what is it?

The competition serves as a training ground for engineering students who aspire to build a future in the automotive industry. Following the rule books, the teams have to design and fabricate a formula-style prototype vehicle from scratch, along with seeking sponsorship and donations to fund the project. This not only helps them gain valuable experience in teamwork, but also in areas of management.

The competition is divided in two categories – combustion and electric. A jury of experts – hailing from motorsport, automotive and supplier industries – judge the teams and their vehicles in the areas of engineering design, overall cost, marketability and dynamic performance.

2023 Formula Bharat winners

This year, Formula Bharat introduced two classes. Class I gave aspiring student teams the chance to have their conceptual designs judged by industry experts, without having to build a physical prototype. The winners of this class were already announced in November 2022, with Hermes Racing (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) winning in the combustion category and IITK Motorsports (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur) winning in the electric category.

Meanwhile, Class II was conducted on-site with a total of 53 teams – 32 combustion and 21 electric. The winners of the overall event were Veloce Racing (Vishwakarma Institute of Technology) in the combustion category and STES Stallion Motorsport Electric (Kashibai Navale College of Engineering) in the electric category. The on-site event also comprised of the mandatory brake test, noise test, tilt test and more. These were followed by dynamic events, including skidpad, acceleration, autocross, efficiency and the endurance test on the track.

Here's a detailed list of the overall winners from each event.

Formula Bharat future events

The student engineering design competition is expected to return in January 2024, with pre-registration opening anytime between April-May this year.