An electric car from the Netherlands stormed to victory at Silverstone recently when the TU Delft team amassed a total of 855.5 points in Formula Student 2014 — the world’s largest student motor-sport event.

This year’s competition saw about 3,000 of the world’s best young engineers descend on the home of British motor-sport to battle it out.

The University of Stuttgart claimed second place with 836.7 points, and their compatriots from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology came third with 828.1 points.

The top UK team was Oxford Brookes University, which came sixth with 733.4 points; two other UK teams made the top 10 — the University of Bath (732.3 points) and the University of Cardiff (649.1).

Alumni of Formula Student, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, now occupy senior positions in nearly every Formula One team. This year’s event was attended by competition ambassadors Paddy Lowe (executive director of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1), Caterham’s technical director Mike Gascoyne, Willem Toet (head of aero-dynamics at Sauber F1), and BBC science presenter Dallas Campbell.

Richard Folkson, Formula Student chief judge and president-elect of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “This year’s competition was absolutely fantastic; the quality of engineering on show has never been higher. TU Delft were deserving winners; they built a tremendous vehicle with various innovative technologies that we had never seen before in Formula Student.

"There was a tremendous atmosphere at Silverstone for what was a very close competition. Every one of the 3,000 students who took part should be proud of what they’ve achieved.”

Formula Student challenges student engineers to design, build and race a single-seat racing car in one year. The cars are then judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance in a series of time-trial races, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills.