Sponsoring Imperial Formula Racing: Formula Student 2026

What is Formula Student?

Formula Student is an international engineering competition organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), where university teams design, build and compete with a single-seater race car.

The competition plays a huge role in shaping the next generation of automotive engineers across Europe, giving students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in a highly competitive, real-world environment. Designing, building and refining a race car from the ground up is no small task. It demands a high level of attention to detail, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.

Imperial Formula Racing

Imperial Formula Racing needs little introduction. Representing one of the world's leading engineering universities, the team brings together some of the brightest and most ambitious students from Imperial College London to design, manufacture and compete with a single-seat racing car in the prestigious Formula Student competition.

We're incredibly excited to announce our sponsorship of Imperial Formula Racing. The team embodies the problem-solving mindset that continue to drive the industry forward.

This partnership is particularly meaningful to us due to our longstanding connection with Imperial College London. Jack Chester, our Technical Manager and third generation of the Chester family, studied at Imperial with great success, making this collaboration a natural fit. Having witnessed first-hand the calibre of talent that Imperial produces, we're proud to play a small part in supporting them as they develop their skills.

Formula Student is widely recognised as one of the most demanding and respected student engineering competitions in the world. Success requires far more than simply building a fast car. The experience gained through the competition helps prepare students for careers across motorsport, automotive engineering and a wide range of high-performance industries.

We look forward to following their progress throughout the season and wish the entire Imperial team every success.

"Having studied at Imperial myself, it's great to be able to support the Formula Student team. Measurement and testing are areas of engineering that often get little exposure in education, despite how critical they are when trying to understand what's really happening within a design. It's been encouraging to see the team take such an interest in learning more about strain gauging and how it can be applied to the car. They're a very talented group of students and we're looking forward to seeing what they achieve this season."

Jack Chester  |  Technical Manager at PCM

Our Support in Formula Student

We'll be supporting Imperial Formula Student with the implementation of strain gauging. This technology has never been utilised by the team, and we're confident that with our support, they'll be able to gather valuable information, taking their car to the next level.

Strain gauges will allow them to capture real-world data directly from the car, giving greater insight into how components perform under load and helping to inform more accurate design decisions. We've hosted dedicated training days at our facility for the Imperial team, working together in both theory and practice, enabling them to professionally strain gauge critical components themselves.

For us, this kind of hands-on support is what sponsorship is really about. Sharing knowledge and helping teams get the most out of their development.

We’ll be sharing updates as things progress, so keep an eye out to see how they get on throughout the season.