Team spirit and technical skill deliver results on race tracks across Europe

For the 2026 Formula Student season, the racing team adopted the motto “Feuer Frei Stuttgart”, which roughly translates as “Full speed ahead, Stuttgart”. The University of Stuttgart racing team ended the season with a solid top-10 finish at the Hockenheimring. “We fought hard for this result. We didn’t get off to the best start to the season, but we still managed to achieve a strong result. We’ve always stuck together as a team, and that’s what made the difference,” say team leaders Levin Küng and Tobias Braas.

Unlike a traditional motorsport race, Formula Student is about much more than speed. “It’s not about who builds the fastest vehicle but rather who builds the best one,” says André Casal Kulzer, Professor of Automotive Engineering and mentor to the racing team. “Formula Student gives our students the opportunity to put their skills into practice and demonstrate their abilities as aspiring engineers. In addition to technical skills, they learn how to work together as a team, celebrate successes, and deal with problems.”

The University of Stuttgart racing team was set to compete in Switzerland to kick off the season. However, because of insufficient testing time, the team decided not to compete. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but that’s part of Formula Student, too,” say the two team leaders. The students conducted further tests on their vehicle and prepared it for the next competition.

In the Czech Republic, the team finished in second place in the overall standings. In Austria, the students had one second-place and two third-place finishes in Autocross, Efficiency, and Engineering Design. In the overall standings, the team finished in seventh place. “Unfortunately, we had some difficulties with the rain test, so we weren’t able to compete in the skid pad and acceleration events,” says Levin Küng. “Being able to rely on help from other teams to pass the rain test is what the spirit of Formula Student is all about,” says Tobias Braas.

Despite this spirit of cooperation, Formula Student remains an international competition. Every season, student teams from around the world design, build, and race a fully electric race car. “We do everything ourselves from scratch. Every component in our car was developed in-house and manufactured either by us or with the help of our sponsors,” say Levin Küng and Tobias Braas. This season’s car, the X0711-3, features four electric motors developed by the team, innovative aerodynamics for greater agility, and a 0-to-100 km/h acceleration time of 2 seconds. The greatest technical achievement of this year is the completely redesigned high-voltage battery, which has helped make the X0711-3 the lightest vehicle in Formula Student Germany 2026, weighing an impressive 158 kg.

The teams demonstrate how well their vehicles perform in various disciplines. Among other things, the teams earn points for acceleration on a straight track (Acceleration), cornering performance (Skidpad), technical reliability over long distances (Endurance), and energy consumption (Efficiency). The events are completed in both driver-controlled and autonomous modes. The concept behind the vehicle—from manufacturing to the use of materials to the cost plan—must also be compelling.

The team’s strengths this season clearly lay in reducing the weight of the car and improving its reliability. The students plan to improve their preparation for the technical inspections.

The next Formula Student season starts in September, and the racing team is still looking for new team members. Anyone interested in working on a challenging project can contact the racing team directly via its website or Instagram channel.