Formula SAE-A moves to Tailem Bend
29th April 2026
Formula SAE-A, Australasia’s premier student motorsport engineering competition, will relocate to South Australia from December 2026, ending a 26-year run in Victoria and marking a major win for the state’s engineering and motorsport sectors.
The event will be staged at The Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at The Bend in Tailem Bend for the next five years, bringing more than 1,200 engineering students from across Australia, Asia and the Middle East to compete in one of the region’s most respected applied engineering programs.
Formula SAE-A challenges university teams to design, engineer and validate a Formula-style race car from the ground up over a 12-month period before testing their creations during a four-day competition each December. Students from disciplines including mechanical, electrical, mechatronics, robotics, computer technology and artificial intelligence take part, gaining real-world experience in engineering, leadership, project management, cost control, supply reliability and safety.
South Australian Minister for State Development Chris Picton said securing the event was a strong endorsement of the state’s growing engineering capability.
“Securing Formula SAE-A is a big win for our state and a strong vote of confidence in South Australia’s growing opportunities in the engineering sector,” Picton said.
He said the move would inject more than $22.6 million into the South Australian economy over five years while strengthening the state’s STEM pipeline.
“After its long history in Victoria this event will now be held at one of the best racetracks in the country at The Bend,” he said.
The event is expected to be the largest regional gathering attracting interstate and international visitors to South Australia and will include a major employment exhibition where companies such as Caterpillar, Ford Australia, Toyota Australia, Walkinshaw, Tesla Energy and Supacat pitch career opportunities directly to students.
SAE-A President Martha Oplopiadis described Formula SAE-A as “the most effective applied engineering education program in Australasia”, saying it bridges the gap between university learning and professional practice.
“For many students, Formula SAE-A represents the first time their work is assessed by practicing engineers rather than academics alone,” she said.
She added that the competition develops graduates who understand engineering as an ongoing process of analysis, improvement and refinement rather than a finished task.
The Bend CEO Alistair MacDonald said the addition of Formula SAE-A would further strengthen the venue’s standing as Australia’s premier motorsport destination while delivering a major economic boost to the Murray and Coorong region.
“Formula SAE-A will bring over 1000 great minds to South Australia to stay in our region for an extended amount of time,” MacDonald said.
The move also reinforces South Australia’s expanding motorsport profile, following the return of the Adelaide Grand Final, the Adelaide Motorsport Festival and the securing of the Australian MotoGP Grand Prix.
For Formula SAE-A competitors, however, the focus remains simple: building faster, smarter and safer race cars—and proving they are ready for industry.
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