Silverstone beckons for student engineers

The University's Formula Student team receives backing from Babcock

Formula student team with the new chassis funded by Babcock

Silverstone beckons for student engineers

The University's Formula Student team receives backing from Babcock

8 July 2026

Student engineers from the University of Plymouth are travelling to Silverstone next week to compete in a national competition.

And, thanks to funding from Babcock International Group, their dreams of racing their very own car are within reach for the future.

Formula Student team member Rowan working on car

The Formula Student competition sees thousands of students from universities across the world design, build and race their own single-seater car, and Plymouth has competed in the concept class for the last two years. This category measures business presentation, cost analysis and design evaluation – everything short of physically racing – and they’re off to Silverstone again next week to compete in this category.

Thanks to a £2,000 contribution from Babcock, the company's welding team in Plymouth has been mentoring the student engineers and sharing their expertise. This support has enabled the team to further develop their Formula Student vehicle design and begin building their first competition car.

Formula Student team principal, Dragos Sabadac

The money has bought the car chassis, and team principal Dragos Sabadac, who is studying BEng Mechanical Engineering, explains why it matters so much:

We are all so grateful and it is a significant milestone for the team.

The chassis represents a major step towards developing a complete Formula Student vehicle – and we really hope, with further support and hard work, we can actually finish the vehicle and race it next year.

At Silverstone next week, we will present our design work, explain our engineering choices, and receive feedback from experienced judges and industry professionals.

The aim is to use the event to validate our progress, learn from other teams, and progress to the next stage of development.

This year is about proving that University of Plymouth Racing is moving forward and building the foundations for a stronger, more competitive team in the future. Thank you so much to Babcock and everyone involved in making it happen.

Dragos Sabadac, University of Plymouth Formula Student Team Principal

Passion, enthusiasm and hard work

The University of Plymouth’s Formula Student team (UoP Racing) is an extra-curricular project at the University of Plymouth. It allows students to take part in a real motorsport project, developing skills in design, manufacturing, project management, and teamwork, and students from any course can join.

University Technicians Luke Branca and Chris Pass support the team in addition to their day-to-day roles leading laboratories in the state-of-the-art Babbage Building, and are excited by everyone’s progress.

All of the students involved in the project are so dedicated.

Being part of a student society means that this work is done in their spare time, and their passion, enthusiasm and hard work has been such a real privilege to see.

Having the chassis and now being able to work on the car in the Babbage Building composites lab gives us opportunities and access to equipment that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, so I can’t wait to see what comes next.

We’re going to have a great time at Silverstone, then build on all of the feedback to go forward to next year.

Mr Luke Branca
Senior Technician - Composites

Babcock is committed to supporting skills development in Plymouth, which is critical given we are one of the largest employers in the region.

The collaboration between Babcock and the Plymouth Formula Student team builds on the strategic partnership we announced with the University earlier this year and their excitement and enthusiasm has been fantastic to be a part of.

The efforts of our welding team, engineers, who have mentored and worked with the students is getting them one step closer to racing their first ever car at the event.

Neil Young, Babcock’s Global Capability Director

This shows the strength of engineering at Plymouth, where our students gain a thorough grounding in theory while also developing their skills through hands-on activities; this unbeatable combination makes our graduates highly sought after.

Formula Student shows the growing breadth of our ambitions, with courses in automotive engineering to be developed in the next few years.

Babcock are a great partner to the University and their support is highly appreciated.

Professor Alex Belton
Head of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth

Babcock is an official partner of Formula Student and, together with the University, a member of Team Plymouth.

More information

Support our Formula Student Team

Study engineering

Babbage Building: where engineering meets design