Young F1 car designers gear up for international contest
dubai — A team of 20 young innovative engineers, who made the UAE’s first Formula 1 student race car, are all geared up to showcase their latest car at Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) in Germany next year.
The team will also be showcasing their latest creation at the Dubai Motor Show this year.
The students from BITS Pilani, Dubai, who call themselves ‘Gear Shifters’, designed their first Formula 1 car, GSRS01, in 2013. They showcased the car during their participation at the Michigan International Speedway in 2014. In 2015, they came up with another Formula 1 car, GSRS02. Their car was ranked 34th out of 90 cars at the Formula SAE Italy in 2015.
Recently, the team also won at the Innovator Show 2016 in Abu Dhabi. Team captain Sadjot Biswal said: “It took us four months to design the Formula 1 car GSRF03 and will take another five months to manufacture it. Dh200,000 was spent in total for designing and manufacturing the car. Last year, it cost us Dh170,000; while for the first car, we spent around Dh140,000. “We hope to be at least among the top 10 in the upcoming competition.
“We would like Jihad Hassan, king of drift from the UAE, and international F1 driver Lewis Hamilton to drive our car.”
The team has also participated at the Gitex 2016 and Wetex 2016. At these events, they were able to attract and inspire young minds across the UAE to delve into the motor sports industry.