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Many congratulations to the Warwick Sub team on their recent successes at the European International Submarine Races (eISR). The team won the Innovation Prize for their modular PLA hull and were the first British team since 2016 to qualify for the special racing day at the end.

Since 2012, a group of engineers from Warwick University has been crafting top-tier human-powered submarines for participation in competitions both within the UK and internationally. Comprising of young engineers, supported by academics and professionals with diverse backgrounds, this student engineering project is focused on the development of taking on the underwater world.

Team Captain, Ben Winter, says:

Overall, I’m delighted with Warwick’s performance at eISR 2026, winning the Innovation prize for our modular PLA hull and being the first British team since 2016 to qualify for the special racing day at the end. These achievements are a testament to the team’s work ethic and drive to win; proving that Warwick’s engineers have what it takes to be competitive on the global stage. The path to eISR was not always easy, but through determination and outstanding teamwork we have further solidified Warwick Sub’s legacy as the winningest British team in Human-Powered Submarine racing history.

We started the first week off strong, being the third team through dry checks, passing on our first attempt. While it took until our third attempt to pass the wet check, the team-spirit did not falter, and the invaluable help provided by our partnership with the University of Adelaide meant we could bounce back and be ready for the start of the second week, race-week.

The first run was spent familiarising myself with exactly how the controls felt at speed, something which the pool tests could not fully manage, before successfully finishing the course on Tuesday, the first full day of racing. Completing a full run of the course this early was a massive achievement and afforded us the luxury of pushing the limits of the submarine for the rest of the racing days.

On Wednesday, the Australian captain piloted our submarine, strengthening the Warwick and Adelaide partnership that we had created over the previous week and a half.

Thursday rolled around and we managed to improve upon our time, putting together a sub 3-minute lap of the course, a whole 40 seconds faster than our first recorded time and peaking at a speed of 2.07 kts. We attribute this success to our unique gimballed steering system, which allowed our sub sharper turns than typical steering systems. After this run, we were informed we had qualified for the special, final day of racing which consisted of two laps of the course.

The final racing day consisted of 2 attempts, the first of which we succeeded in completing the two laps in 7:19.8. The final run of the competition saw us pushing the limits for our submarine’s speed and lead to the unfortunate loss of both our propeller blades on the final lap.

We couldn’t have achieved any of this without the kindness and generosity of WMG, The School of Engineering and all our wonderful sponsors who allow us to make Warwick Sub the best it can be.