The design of a Formula Student-car happens within the limits of the regulations. The car as an open-wheel configuration (which also means an open cockpit) with four wheels that are not in a straight line.
The used engine must be a 4-stroke piston engine with a total maximum displacement of 610cc. The used fuel can be regular gasoline or E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline).To limit the available power there is a restrictor (20mm for regular gasoline-engines and 19mm for E85-engines) where all the air going to the engine must pass through. The team is allowed to use a turbo- or supercharger, provided that the engine isn't equiped with such a system by default and the used system is developed in-house. Furthermore, the team is free to choose the used powertrain (gearbox, differential, etc.).
In the design of the chassis, the main limitation is that the the wheelbase should be at least 1525mm. For the track width it should be noted that the smallest track width (doesn't matter if it is the front or the rear axle) should be at least 75% of the larger track width.
From here on there are few limitations, with the aim to motivate the students to be creative and to open the door for innovative ideas. The cars weigh between 150 and 300kg. With power of up to 95hp it's possible to reach power-to-weight ratio's comparable to those of modern racecars. This makes for spectacular performance: Accelerating from 0 to 100km/h is done in less than 4 seconds.
There may also be made use of the latest electronic gadgets, like shifting on the steering wheel with paddles or launch- and traction control that can improve the performance during the start as well as during the race itself.
