What do you get with a group of dedicated engineering students and an idea to go fast? You build a race car out of it. Specifically, you build a Formula SAE race car to showcase your idea, even if it means venturing into new territory.
However, progress on building and refining their ideas for the Formula SAE cars never stopped, with progress continuing on throughout the pandemic. 2021 also marked the final year that these engineering students would use an internal combustion engine to power their race car, for they decided to make the switch to electric power for the 2022 iteration.
Combined with the R22e’s light weight, the power to weight ratio is 514hp/tonne, allowing the R22e to complete the century spring in 3.9 seconds. To put that in perspective, that is almost equivalent to the Bugatti Veyron’s power-to-weight ratio of 523hp/tonne. The top speed of the R22e is also higher compared to the R21, being able to hit 125km/h as compared to the 93.8km/h of the R21.