The Formula Racing Team of Taiwan Tech delivered an outstanding performance at the 2026 Formula Student Taiwan (FST), successfully completing all technical inspections and maintaining consistently strong performances throughout the three-day competition. The team ultimately claimed the Overall Championship, marking the best result in the team's history and showcasing the exceptional capabilities of Taiwan Tech students in engineering design, interdisciplinary integration, and teamwork.
Prior to competition at Formula Student Taiwan (FST), team members assist the driver with vehicle inspections and final pre-race preparations.
Formula Student Taiwan (FST) is Taiwan's premier student formula racing competition. Participating teams are required to design, manufacture, and test their own race cars before undergoing a comprehensive series of evaluations, including technical inspections, static events, and dynamic competitions. Beyond vehicle performance, the competition comprehensively assesses each team's engineering design, manufacturing quality, cost analysis, business planning, and teamwork, providing a rigorous test of students' ability to transform theoretical knowledge into practical engineering achievements.
The Taiwan Tech Formula Racing Team competed in the 2026 Formula Student Taiwan (FST) with an electric formula race car entirely designed and built by the team.
During this year's competition, the Taiwan Tech Formula Racing Team successfully completed every technical inspection, including mechanical inspection, electrical inspection, and the rain test. The team also delivered its Design Presentation, explaining to the judges the vehicle's design philosophy, engineering approach, and key technical innovations. Advancing to the dynamic events, the team continued to demonstrate consistent performance by successfully completing the Acceleration, Skidpad, and Endurance events. The Endurance event, regarded as the competition's most demanding challenge, tests not only the reliability and overall performance of the vehicle but also the driver's ability to maintain consistent performance over an extended race. Success also depends heavily on the team's expertise in vehicle setup, maintenance, and real-time problem-solving.
The team's latest race car, developed from its second-generation vehicle, LEPORD 02, embodies a full year of research, development, and hands-on engineering experience.
Professor Ming-Jyh Chern, faculty advisor to the Taiwan Tech Formula Racing Team, noted that Formula Student is far more than an engineering competition - it serves as a comprehensive systems engineering platform. The competition follows rigorous international standards, requiring students not only to master vehicle design, manufacturing, and testing, but also to develop strong capabilities in teamwork, project management, and interdisciplinary communication.
Po-An Lai, a second-year student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and captain of the team, said that the most challenging stage of preparation came after the race car was completed, during validation and testing. Within a limited timeframe, the team had to verify that the vehicle met its original design objectives. Whenever problems were discovered during assembly, completed components often had to be dismantled, adjusted, and reassembled - a process that was both time-consuming and demanding of the team's patience and coordination. Since every team member is a full-time student, vehicle development had to be carried out during evenings, weekends, and other spare time, making late nights and all-night work sessions a regular occurrence. He added that overcoming these challenges together and ultimately winning the Overall Championship at Formula Student Taiwan was the greatest recognition of the team's year-long dedication and proved that every member's hard work had been worthwhile. He expressed his hope that the team would continue to push its limits and achieve even greater success in the future.
The team competes in the Skidpad event, which evaluates vehicle handling performance and driver consistency.
Lai emphasised that this achievement belongs to every team member who dedicated countless hours over the past year to vehicle design, manufacturing, testing, and validation, as well as to the faculty advisors, the University, and corporate sponsors whose unwavering support made the team's success possible. Looking ahead, the team will continue refining its vehicle performance and engineering capabilities while accumulating further competition experience, with the goal of competing in international Formula Student competitions and continuing to demonstrate the innovation, technical excellence, and engineering competitiveness of Taiwan Tech students.
Members of the Taiwan Tech Formula Racing Team pose with the electric formula race car they designed and built, highlighting the team's collaborative achievements and engineering expertise.
The Taiwan Tech Formula Racing Team won the Overall Championship at the 2026 Formula Student Taiwan (FST).