About SWR
Built by students, driven by setbacks
Still We Rise Motorsports is a newly formed Formula SAE team at VIT-AP University. Here is who we are, how we work and where we are heading.
The name
What Still We Rise Means
Nothing on a race car works perfectly the first time. Welds crack, parts do not fit, and some test days end early.
Our name is our answer to those days: find the cause, fix it and come back stronger. Rising is not about a single result. It is about what we do next.
Setbacks are lessons
A failure we understand is worth more than a success we cannot explain.
Progress is shared
Nobody builds a race car alone. Credit and problems both belong to the whole team.
The work carries on
Every year should begin from what the previous one learned.
Purpose and values
Build the car, build the engineers
Our purpose is to design, build and race a Formula SAE car as a team of students, and to become better engineers by doing it.
Decide with evidence
Calculations, simulation and test results come before opinions.
Keep it buildable
A part we can make well beats a part we can only draw.
Write it down
Decisions and mistakes are recorded so the next group does not repeat them.
Everyone builds
Members from every year and discipline get real responsibility.
Collaboration and practical learning
Where classroom engineering meets the workshop
A race car does not respect the boundaries between subjects. Structures, electronics, software, budgets and schedules all collide in one machine, so the people working on them have to understand and explain each other's ideas.
Members learn by doing: modelling a part, finding out it cannot be made, changing it, making it and then watching it work. That cycle teaches judgement that is hard to learn any other way.
The competition
What Formula SAE is
Formula SAE is a student engineering competition. Teams design, build and drive a small single-seat, open-wheel race car, then defend their engineering in front of judges. In many countries the same format runs as Formula Student; in India, one of the main events is Formula Bharat, our first target.
It is not only about speed. Points are split between static events, judged off the track, and dynamic events, driven on it.
Static events
- Design
- Judges question the engineering decisions behind the car.
- Cost
- Teams account for what the car costs to make.
- Business presentation
- Teams pitch a business case built around the car.
Dynamic events
- Acceleration
- A straight-line sprint from a standing start.
- Skidpad
- A figure-of-eight course that tests steady cornering.
- Autocross
- One fast lap of a tight, technical course.
- Endurance and efficiency
- A long run that tests reliability and how much energy the car uses.
Event names, rules and scoring vary between competitions and seasons.
Our process
Design, build, test, refine
Design
We design for the whole car. A part is finished when it fits its neighbours, can be made with the tools we have and can be serviced quickly.
Build
We make as much as we can ourselves. Building a part teaches things a model cannot.
Test
We want time on track. A car that runs for months before competition is worth more than a clever one that runs for days.
Refine
Test results go straight back into the design. Each loop makes the next car simpler, lighter or more reliable.
Where we are heading
Three steps to the grid
These are targets, not results.
Now · we are here
Concept and design
Setting targets and designing the car's major systems.
2027
A running car
Our target is a running car in 2027, with time to test and improve it.
2028
Formula Bharat
Our target is to race at Formula Bharat 2028, India's Formula Student competition.
Visit the Formula Bharat website (opens in a new tab)
Our university
SWR Motorsports is a student team at VIT-AP University.