Automotive and Motorsport Engineering Semester highlights

From simulating a piece of motoring history to building a race car from scratch, our Automotive and Motorsport students spend their degree doing the kind of engineering that gets noticed - by judges, by industry, and by employers. 

Final year success: graduating student Spencer Potts wins Best Engineering Project

Some final year projects start with a placement and end with a standing ovation. That's exactly the trajectory of Spencer Potts, who carried the work he began on industry placement straight into his final year project - developing a historic Bentley Blower engine using state-of-the-art 1D simulation software.

Spencer showcased the project at GradEx, where it was recognised with the award for Best Engineering Project. To cap off an outstanding final year, he was also chosen to deliver the graduation speech on behalf of all graduating Engineering students - a fitting tribute to a project, and a student, that exemplifies exactly what this course sets out to build.

Spencer talked through his project with us at GradEx.

Building real engineering experience: another award-winning Formula Student season

Alongside their studies, students have the opportunity to join Staffs Uni Racing, our award-winning Formula Student team. Each year, successful students from across engineering spend the year designing, manufacturing, and testing a single-seat race car from scratch, before taking it to Silverstone to compete in the IMechE Formula Student competition - the UK's biggest student motorsport event, bringing together university teams from around the world to test their engineering, design, manufacturing, and business skills.

This year, the team finished fourth overall, and achieved the distinction of fielding the highest-scoring internal combustion (IC) car in the entire competition. The team also reached the finals of the Cost & Manufacturing static event (a first in Staffs Uni Racing history) and finished third in the Endurance Event, widely regarded as the ultimate test of car reliability and team performance. Of the more than 100 teams that entered, only 23 qualified for the 27-lap endurance race, and just nine crossed the finish line. It's a result that extends the team's record of completing every dynamic event at Formula Student for six consecutive years running.

Team leader Nikita Dookhy said: "Overall, we had an awesome time at the competition, and we are so proud of the results we achieved, being the top Internal Combustion Team."

It's exactly this kind of result that makes Staffs Uni Racing such a valuable part of the the engineering student experience: hands-on, high-pressure engineering with a genuine deadline, a genuine result, and genuine recognition from across the motorsport industry.

Read the full story on the Formula Student 2026 result

More images from the competition in the gallery at the bottom of this page.

Mastering simulation: from single cylinder to full engine

Simulation is one of the defining skills of modern automotive engineering, and it's a skill our students build deliberately, module by module. This semester, it started in Level 4 Vehicle Principles, with a foundational introduction to simulation using a single cylinder engine. That foundation is then built on through Level 5 Automotive Technology & Aerodynamics and Level 6 Applied Automotive and Acoustics Engineering, where students progress to modelling a full multi-cylinder, multi-valve, forced induction engine.

By the time students reach their final year, they're not just familiar with simulation software- they're capable of applying it to genuinely complex, real-world engineering problems, exactly as Spencer's award-winning project above demonstrates.

Learning from industry: from McLaren to battery manufacturing

Throughout the course, students engage directly with the industry they're training to join. Guest speakers have included former students now working at McLaren Automotive, as well as senior engineers leading international teams in the development of next-generation vehicles - giving students a first-hand view of where the sector is heading and what it takes to get there.

Industrial visits this semester have included UKBIC (UK Battery Industrialisation Centre), where students saw the latest battery cell manufacturing technology in action - a direct, practical connection to the future of automotive engineering as the industry continues its shift toward electrification.

Graduates ready for the road ahead

As this year's students graduate, we look back with real pride on their individual journeys and achievements. Many are stepping straight into roles across the automotive and motorsport sector, taking the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience built here with them into industry. Others are continuing their academic journey through postgraduate study, deepening their expertise further.

At graduation, we caught up with Alex Youdale, a long-standing member of the Formula Student team since joining the University, spoke to us about his placement year at AP Racing and how it, combined with his experience on the Formula Student team, helped secure him a graduate role at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. Since returning from placement, Alex has stepped into the roles of Chassis Team Leader and Business Co-leader within Staffs Uni Racing, playing a key part in the team's recent competition success, a fitting send-off before he heads into one of the biggest names in motorsport engineering.

Watch Alex's interview:

This semester, we also caught up with graduate Zac, now working as a Build Component Logistics Coordinator (and occasional Race Team Spares Coordinator) for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team. Zac credits his time at Staffs (particularly winning his class with the Formula Student team in 2021) as a defining moment that came up repeatedly in future job interviews, while the connections made through the course led directly to his first professional motorsport role. From graduate intern to full-time engineer trackside at races around the world, Zac's journey is a powerful reminder of where this course can lead: as he put it, working alongside his childhood hero Jenson Button and celebrating his first trackside win in Formula 1 are moments he now looks back on with real pride.

Read Zac's interview here