Our Marks & Clerk Canadian offices are proud to announce our partnership with University of Toronto Formula Racing (UTFR), a student‑run engineering team dedicated to designing, building, and racing electric formula style race cars.
UTFR brings together a team of over 70 students across a wide range of disciplines driven by a passion for engineering excellence, hands on learning and a determination to succeed on the international stage, competing at Formula SEA and Formula Student events in North America and Europe.
Each year the UTFR team takes on the challenge of building a compact, open‑wheel race car, and continuously strives to learn and apply new feats of engineering and explore emerging technologies to create a high-performance electric race car.
Innovation in action:
UTFR’s team developed the first driverless Formula Student Car in Canada and one of only two in North America (2024). Last year UTFRs car was the first in North America to complete a fully functional driverless run at FSEA Michigan, and the first North American car at Formula Germany to compete in a driverless event.
This year, UTFR has set a new challenge to upgrade their systems from a single-motor rear-wheel drive system to a quad-motor four-wheel drive system to increase acceleration and speed. The team also set a goal to reduce its car’s weight, by developing a composite high-voltage battery housing.
Marks & Clerk is thrilled to be the official intellectual property partner of UTFR, particularly because in addition to providing sponsorship dollars, professionals from our Canadian offices will providing the team members with an educational session explaining how IP can be used in the protection of new ideas, thoughtful design, and the application of innovation into real‑world solutions. Our professionals will also be delivering a second education session targeted at highlighting possible career paths in intellectual property for motivated engineering graduates. Partnership that goes beyond merely writing a cheque.
Last Friday, the UTFR26 car was unveiled at a launch event at the University of Toronto campus. In addition to the UTFR team members and their friends and family, members of our Canadian patents team were on hand to meet the UTFR team: Kevin Shipley, Partner and Head of Mechanical and Industrial Processes, Nikki Davy, Counsel, and Christopher Bury, Senior Associate. It was a great opportunity to meet their team and learn more about the great work that has gone into this project.
We look forward to supporting UTFR this season!
