Morson Projects Head of Engineering Delivery, Chris Summers shared:
“The team showed an incredible commitment to reach Silverstone and pass the first three parts of scrutineering, which was a significant achievement. Although a cracked fuel tank meant they couldn’t compete in the final stages, this challenge presents a great opportunity for growth. Real-world engineering rarely goes exactly to plan, and it’s how we respond, learn, and improve that makes the difference. We’re already looking forward to supporting the team again in 2026.”
Each year, the legendary Silverstone Circuit plays host to the IMechE Formula Student competition—one of the most prestigious student engineering events in the UK. This high-intensity challenge invites university teams to design, build, and race a single-seater car, testing not only their technical expertise but also their strategic thinking and business capabilities. Participants are rigorously evaluated through a series of assessments, including tests for structural integrity, acoustic performance, and braking efficiency.
As part of our commitment to advancing STEM education, Morson is a proud supporter of the Salford Racing team through our STEM Foundation initiative. This programme is dedicated to broadening access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers by fostering engagement and supporting educational infrastructure.
We attended the finals weekend of the tournament and spoke to the team about what taking part had taught them.
Lessons learned despite track disappointment
The Salford Racing 2025 team featured a lot of new faces, with the group primarily made up of first year and second year students. Consequently, the team had to adjust to a gap in knowledge from previous cohorts.
Primarily an engineering competition, teams are required to pass a number of scrutineering categories before being allowed on track to race in the sprint and endurance events. Unfortunately, despite passing the Safety, Chassis, and Tech elements, a crack in the fuel tank ended the teams’ hopes of passing the final three categories and making it onto the track sessions.
Yusra, an Aeronautical Engineering student and aerodynamics lead for Salford Racing, spoke about her experience on the project and how it has helped nurture some of the skills she has sought to develop in practical engineering.
“I’ve always been passionate about engineering, maths, sciences. We can just translate the world around us with numbers, we can make things work. We can make things that fly in the sky! Just starting from numbers. I think that’s crazy. It’s like the language of the world.
“I started in my first year in the aerodynamics team as I study aeronautical engineering, and I just thought it was such an amazing thing to be able to apply the knowledge and the theory we learned, in real life and to actually get hands on. You have to design something that has to work from A to Z. So, you go through all the processes, and it also allows you to understand different processes in industry and be able to know what you prefer, what you don’t prefer, and develop a lot of skills as well.
“Salford Racing has given me the opportunity to tackle every single aspect: design, calculations, simulations, software like SolidWorks, cam, manufacturing on the five-axis mill or the lathe. We can do real world testing. And then you have assembling, you can have actual hands-on experience.”
One element of the Morson STEM Foundation is the Morson Maker Space, a cutting-edge facility on campus equipped with advanced tools for engineering, design, and manufacturing. This space proved instrumental in enabling students to fabricate key components for their competition vehicle.
“In terms of the dynamics team it’s crucial for us to have a five-axis machine for complex parts such as the uprights that are literally the most important component in the wheel, the inner wheel assembly. It’s been extremely helpful to have these facilities inside in university because we were able to fix things very easily when they would go wrong.
“We also had some amazing support from the university team and our supervisors that I’m very grateful of me teaching us to learn how to use these machines to learn how to use the software with amazing guidance. It’s been very good in terms of how it would work in industry as well. For example, you have engineering drawings that you have to learn how to make properly. You have to understand tolerances and stuff like that which I’ve had the opportunity to learn.”
Despite all of the students coming from different engineering disciplines, some of which on the surface seem unrelated to motorsport, focusing their energy into building the racing car bought together all of their strengths.
“Even if you study mechanical engineering, you don’t study how to make cars. Engineering is still engineering. You have a certain type of knowledge and theory that sometimes you have to self-teach as well and ask people and learn by reading books, or asking the alumni, or asking professors, and try your best to apply it in real life. And this is still engineering, and this is what engineering is actually about. It’s something that we don’t necessarily do as students because it’s very theoretical. And this actually gives you hands on experience which completes the theoretical aspect of our degree.”