Overview
UGent Racing is Ghent University's Formula Student team, a student-run organisation of nearly 100 members who design, build and race a fully electric, autonomous race car each year. This season's car, Callisto, marks our sixth generation, and it is defined by a single engineering decision that reshaped almost every part of the car: the switch to in-wheel motors.
It sounds like a simple swap. New motors, new wheel hubs, done. In practice, that one choice set off a chain of changes that reached nearly every subteam, from chassis design to steering to aerodynamics. What follows is the story of that chain reaction, and the team that saw it through.
Car Development and Testing
The move to in-wheel motors was not a one-year project. We began developing them the season before Callisto, aiming to replace the previous generation's motors, which were large, heavy and took up a lot of space, with something smaller and lighter, built directly into the wheel.
By the end of that development season, we had a first working prototype: a motor paired with an in-wheel gearbox, ready for testing. Or so we thought. Within minutes of the first test run, smoke began coming from the motor. A bearing had failed, and one of the bearing balls had moved into the motor housing, short-circuiting the stator winding.
It was a setback, and a dramatic one to watch, but we decided to push forward. The 2025-2026 season would become the year we would implement in-wheel motors on the car, and we did.
That single decision changed the rest of the car. With no motors at the rear of the chassis, extra space opened up, but as one of our team members put it during the design process, "we're not building a camper, we're building a race car." Rather than use the freed-up space, we shortened the chassis itself, the first big consequence of the drivetrain decision.
A shorter chassis meant smaller aero boxes, yet our aim was to match or beat last year's downforce numbers, a target we are on track to meet. The shortened chassis also pushed the rear wheels forward, and to keep the wheelbase within the minimum required by the rules, the front wheels had to move too, a change that affected our entire vehicle dynamics setup. The steering system had to change as well. The steering shaft could no longer connect to the steering rack at a straight angle, forcing us to switch from a bevel gear to a cardan joint.
Every subteam felt the effect of that first decision. Despite the changes, we held to three clear goals for Callisto.
In-wheel motors
The car had to be powered by in-wheel motors, the change that started a full cascade.
Weight
The car had a weight goal of 220 kg.
Callisto currently weighs 215 kg. At first we did not want to believe the number we saw on our scale. So we went to look for a scale on RS.
Testing
The car had to complete at least 50 km of scrutineering-legal testing before the first competition. The car has since become scrutineering-legal, and we're proud to say we've already surpassed our 50 km target ahead of the first event. Getting there taught us a lot: about where our weak points were, about how much testing time we actually need to build in, and about how much can go wrong in the last stretch before a car is truly ready to race.
One challenge along the way came from sourcing. Our original gearbox manufacturer produced gears well outside the required tolerance. Rather than risk the part failing, we stopped production with that manufacturer and, in the space of a single week, contacted other producers across Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of France before finding a partner able to deliver on spec and on time.
Team Dynamics
UGent Racing is close to 100 members, run as an independent non-profit (VZW) with its own six-person board responsible for partnerships, planning and onboarding new members. Below the board, technical "heads" each lead a subteam, giving hands-on technical guidance and support. The rest of our members work directly on the car or on the business side of the organisation.
Each year, we bring in around 50 new members, roughly half the team, who need to be trained from scratch. Passing on knowledge is treated as a core challenge in its own right, and we invest deliberately in developing members beyond pure theory.
Diversity of thought matters in a team this size and this technical. According to Flemish government figures, only 11% of industrial engineers are women, and only around 10% of people working in motorsport globally are women. At UGent Racing, 15.7% of our team is female, a figure we are proud of, while recognising there is still a long way to go before reaching parity. At STEM outreach events, we make a point of featuring female role models, hoping to help younger girls picture themselves in automotive engineering and in STEM more broadly.
Beyond the numbers, we have built a strong team spirit through regular team-building activities and time spent together outside of both UGent Racing and academic work. Real friendships have formed as a result, and that closeness helps us move forward, since everyone is willing to help everyone else.
Lessons Learnt
Formula Student scrutineering, the technical inspection every car must pass before competing, moves fast and leaves little room for error. Teams get a short window to show they meet every rule, including for parts judges can't see at a glance. Being properly prepared, with the right parts and tools close at hand, makes the difference.
To handle this well, we built what we call our "scrutineering car": a rolling cart stocked with Formula Student essentials, basically an RS store on wheels. Cable ties, duct tape, toolboxes and wrenches, all RS Pro, ready at a moment's notice.
We track every order through Baserow, and last season logged around 1,000 line items in total. Of those, 229, close to a quarter, came from RS, covering parts that went directly into the car itself.
Looking Ahead
Our biggest target this season is the autonomous programme. Last year marked the first time we completed an autonomous run at competition at all. This year, our goal is to complete every autonomous event across the season. On the manual side, we are aiming to hit the competition cut-off time, a milestone that would mean catching up to teams that have been competing for two decades longer than we have existed.
We will compete at FSG, FSA and FSCz this season, widely seen as the three most competitive events on the Formula Student calendar. Competition is high enough at these three that a single point scored there can be worth up to five points at less competitive events, making strong results here especially valuable for our position in the world ranking.
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