Meet “Bruce” – the fourth-gen race car built by Trinity students
Posted on: 10 July 2026
Bruce is being readied to follow in the tyre tracks of his predecessors, Betsie, Bertie and Bella, as the team looks forward to competing at Formula Student UK, Europe’s leading educational engineering competition.
Formula Trinity is comprised of over 150 students from engineering, computer science, business and other disciplines, who have worked together to design, manufacture and test their single-seater formula-style racing car. The team will compete at Silverstone Circuit later this month against more than 90 international university teams as part of a global competition involving more than 1,000 universities worldwide.
As the team’s fourth internal combustion vehicle, Bruce has been entirely designed, built and tested by students over the past year. The team’s autonomous division will also compete in the FS-AI category, developing the hardware and software required for a driverless racing car.
Last year marked a major milestone for Formula Trinity, when the team’s previous car, Bella, successfully passed scrutineering at Silverstone and competed on track for the first time in the team’s history. This year, the team aims to build on that achievement with improved performance and reliability.
Ellen Quigley, Chief Operating Officer of Formula Trinity, said: “Formula Trinity is about much more than building a race car. It gives students the opportunity to take ideas from the classroom and turn them into something real. Every component of Bruce represents hundreds of hours of voluntary work from students balancing their degrees, jobs and other commitments.”
“What makes this team special is the way knowledge is passed from one generation of students to the next. New members join with little experience, develop their skills, and eventually become leaders who mentor the next group coming through.”
Despite operating with a significantly smaller budget than many competing teams, Formula Trinity has consistently achieved strong results, recently winning the Cost and Manufacturing award and the Aston Martin Racing Pride Diversity & Inclusion Award. The team has also made STEM outreach a key part of its mission, reaching more than 1,000 primary and secondary school students across Dublin through free engineering workshops.
“Engineering should feel accessible to everyone,” added Quigley. “Through Formula Trinity, we want students to see that they can be creative problem-solvers and that a future in STEM is open to them.”
Formula Trinity's Formula race car, "Bruce", in Front Square with Ellen Quigley, COO, behind the wheel.
Formula Trinity’s participation is made possible through the support of its sponsors, technical partners and the wider Trinity community. This year’s sponsors include OpenAI, Susquehanna, Cadence, Irish Steel, Trinity Association and Trust, Movelocity, Esmark Finch, Xsens, Ansys, Realis, SolidWorks and EPLAN.
The team has also been supported by the Eddie Jordan Foundation, as well as colleagues across Trinity, particularly in the School of Engineering and the School of Computer Science and Statistics, including Gerry Byrne and Dave McAuley, who have acted as Faculty Advisors.
