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An engineering showcase will attract the best and brightest to South Australia, with the SA Government announcing Formula SAE-A will be racing in SA for the next five years.

After almost 27 years in Victoria, with one appearance in 2003 at the Mitsubishi Proving Ground, the automotive engineering challenge will be held at The Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at The Bend (The Bend) from December 2026.

Bringing together more than 1200 engineering students from across Australia, Asia and the Middle East, the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) sees student’s design, engineer and validate a Formula style race car from the ground up and then test them over a 4-day event each December.

Formula SAE-A will be the largest regional event that attracts interstate and international visitors to South Australia and will deliver $22.6 million to the state economy over five years.

The event builds upon South Australia’s strong motorsport pedigree, including reinstating the BP Adelaide Grand Final and Adelaide Motorsport Festival, as well as securing the Australian MotoGP™ Grand Prix from Victoria.

Those that participate in Formula SAE-A come from various engineering disciplines such as mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, robotics, computer technology and AI.

Teams from Adelaide University and Flinders University compete in the engineering challenge, which provides a critical STEM pathway for students.

The event includes a large employment exhibition involving leading business's pitching employment opportunities to the participating university students. Exhibitors include businesses of the calibre of Caterpillar, Ford Australia, Toyota Australia, Walkinshaw, Bruce Rock Engineering, PLS, iMove, ADF Careers, Tesla Energy and Supacat.

The South Australian Government has made it a priority to boost the number of skilled workers in our state and events like Formula SAE-A help provide a career pathway for the engineering students, showcasing the opportunities available in SA.