Engineering education must address real-life challenges, including ecological sustainability. This study examines Formula Student (FS), a student-led competition where participants design and build Formula racing cars. Although FS is a popular student-led engineering design competition engaging industry and academia, its impact on sustainability is debatable. As part of the EuroTeQ consortium’s research on co-creation tools in European Engineering Universities, this analysis explores FS’s role in Project-Based Learning (PBL). Using qualitative methods—interviews, field visits, participatory observation, and a focus group workshop—the study assesses FS teams from Tallinn, Prague, Munich, and Eindhoven. The findings, presented under six dimensions, highlight FS’s strengths in practical learning, university involvement, student participation, alumni engagement, and internal expertise and knowledge sharing. Challenges include inconsistent student dedication, diversity issues, and ecological concerns. Despite these, the FS ecosystem remains effective in bridging academia and industry. However, the trajectory of the dominant socio-technological imaginations in the automobile sector and the willingness of the competition formats to adapt to those suggests that the FS will remain relevant in the future too.