Exclusive: Inside the finances of the UK's biggest spending Formula Student team
The University of Sussex’s Sussex Racing team spent over £117,000 for Formula Student UK 2023.
The University of Sussex had the highest expenditure of any UK student motorsport team in 2023. The Asterisk takes a look at the sources of funding, the expenditure, and how the team fared at Silverstone.
The University of Sussex’s Sussex Racing team spent £117,385 for Formula Student UK 2023, a student-led motorsport competition held between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023, a Freedom of Information request by The Asterisk has revealed.
Among the universities that provided financial data, Sussex had the highest expenditure of any UK-based team that took part in the ‘FS Class’ category, the main event where teams compete with the cars they have built.
Sussex Racing did not respond to requests for comment.
A breakdown of the team’s budget reveals where the funding came from and how it was utilised.
27% drop in funding
The university funds the majority of Sussex Racing’s expenditure, while a small portion comes through sponsorships.
Funding dropped by 27% last year, down from £160,000 spent during Formula Student (FS) 2022.
Total funding surpassed the £100,000 mark after the 2022 campaign.
Notably, the team transitioned from a traditional Internal Combustion (IC) powertrain, a system that requires fuel to generate energy and move the car, to an Electric Vehicle (EV) powertrain in 2022.
“The cost to construct an EV can be quite high,” Professor John Senior told The Asterisk. The expert previously oversaw Formula Student activities at the University of Hertfordshire (UH).
The drop in funding for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Formula Student was held virtually in 2020. Sussex finished 26th that year.
E.ON, Santander, ExxonMobil among big sponsors
The team has attracted some big-name sponsors in recent years, such as E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Wind Limited, Santander, and ExxonMobil.
E.ON’s climate division manages wind farms in the UK, Santander is a global bank headquartered in Spain, and ExxonMobil is an American multinational oil and gas corporation.
Other sponsors include Expleo Group, TSL Limited, Alexander Dennis Limited, and Blakley Electrics Limited.
Sussex Racing received £39,393 in sponsorships for the period covering financial years 2018-19 through 2022-23, according to the university.
It did not disclose detailed information as it could ‘harm the team’s commercial interests.’
Breakdown of 2022/23 spending
Sussex Racing spent nearly one-fourth of the team’s total expenditure on lab materials.
This includes instruments and mechanical components that need to be manufactured in the workshop, according to Professor Senior.
The £27,166 spent on lab materials is greater than the total expenditure of more than half of the UK universities that competed at the FS Class event.
External training, which includes guidance or educational sessions from outside the university's resources, cost the team over £20,000 in preparation for the event at Silverstone.
Nearly £15,000 was spent on lab equipment, such as tools and machinery used to design, build, and test the cars.
Where did Sussex finish in 2023?
Sussex Racing finished 39th in the overall standings of Formula Student UK 2023 with a score of 190.5 points.
Italy’s Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia won the competition with 834.6 points.
Sussex only participated in static events, where teams are judged based on the non-driving aspects of the car. Hence, the low finish.
Just over 40% of the team’s points came from the ‘Cost and Manufacturing’ event, which falls under static events.
The team scored 78.2 out of a possible 115 points, ranking 22nd in the category.
The Cost and Manufacturing event assesses a team’s ability to manage the costs and practicalities of building a race car.
“People who embrace the cost event not only tend to do well at the whole event in general but also in their initial careers when they get out in their graduate schemes and so forth,” said John Dangerfield, Formula Student Head Cost & Manufacturing judge.