In mid-June, five students from R.D. Parker Collegiate will travel to Austin, Texas to take part in “F1 in Schools,” one of the largest high school STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competitions in the world.
This event pits teams from Canada, the United States and Latin America against each other in a series of races to determine which among them has the best engineering prowess.
But rather than using Formula One’s signature single-seat racing vehicles, this competition centres around small model cars made of balsa wood and powered by carbon dioxide (CO2) cartridges.
“We have to design the cars with the wooden block they give us,” said team manager Ashutosh Agarwal in an interview with Shaw TV. “And you have to make sure that the CO2 cartridge can fit … the wheels have to be according to their specifications and you have to make sure it is a minimum weight, which is 50g.”
Outside of these parameters, Agarwal said their team, dubbed the Spirit Wolves, were given free rein to come up with their own unique design for the competition. This includes using 3D printers to manufacture racing wings for the back and front of their car.
At the competition, which runs June 13−16, the Spirit Wolves will be facing an extra layer of pressure compared to most participants, since they are the only team representing Canada.
Despite this mental hurdle, several members of the team told the Thompson Citizen that they are still looking forward to the travel, meeting fellow STEM students and exploring the competition’s famous venue.
“It’s going to be an amazing experience to go down … to the Circuit of the Americas, which is the only F1 car track in the U.S. and North America,” said Fotis Tsitsos, the team’s manufacturing engineer.
While the Spirit Wolves have been working hard on this project since October 2017, and are now putting the finishing touches on their car, they still have raise another couple hundred dollars to make this trip a reality.
According to RDPC drafting teaching Dave Caldwell, who’s been with the Spirit Wolves every step of the way, the team is attempting to bridge that gap through organizing their own fundraising events like raffles at the City Centre Mall and possibly even a car wash.
Caldwell remains confident that these hardworking students will make up the difference, especially with their local sponsors at their side.
“We pride ourselves on representing Thompson and our community, because it’s the community and the businesses that are sponsoring us and allowing us to get there.”
To find out more information about the Spirit Wolves racing team, please visit their website at www.spiritwolves.net.
