Troop Athena proves that ‘F1 in Schools’ is more than just a car design competition

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Troop Athena, an all-girl team competing in this year’s F1 in Schools competition; have been very busy over the past few months. They have designed and manufactured two variations of their car and are currently getting it ready to undertake aerodynamic testing.

It has been a steep learning curve for Johanna; the team’s Design Engineer. Before commencing the competition she had never used the CAD software “I couldn’t even make a square. Since then, I’ve spent many, many hours watching YouTube tutorials. I must admit that my design process still involves a fair amount of trial and error, but I’ve come a long way,” said Johanna.

Johanna starts with a little ideation, she Googles car designs and looks through past F1 in Schools team’s Instagram accounts for ideas. Like some of the best designers in F1, like Adrian Newey, Johanna sketches a scale design on paper first.

“Once I’m happy with a concept, I build it in Fusion 360 (the CAD software). I start by modelling up the competition regulation balsa wood block. which our car will be CNC’d from. Then I carve away parts to achieve the desired shape,” added Johanna.

There are strict design guidelines that need to be followed in the F1 is Schools competition. And for the car to travel quickly along the racetrack, it needs to be both light and aerodynamic. This means increasing laminar airflow and decreasing turbulent airflow over the car, while minimising the car’s overall mass.

Johanna’s favourite part of the whole process is the last part: using Fusion 360 to apply decals (primarily our team logo) and apply mock finishes in funky colours. “Silly as it sounds; it is super satisfying to have a design finally look shiny and polished. It’s like a three-dimensional colouring book!” said Johanna.

Once Johanna’s design has been manufactured, Kitty the Manufacturing Engineer is in charge of sanding down and painting the car. Kitty must also make sure that the car’s weight is within regulations and that it isn’t too different from their CAD design.

“We only just recently got our first prototype cut by the CNC machine so there hasn’t been much of my role to do yet. Soon I’ll be purchasing everything I need to be able to paint the car and sand it. Then I will be able to work on my skills for the first prototype before I have to perfect the final car,” said Kitty.

Ella, Troop Athena’s Team Manager has been busy organising the running of the team. She has been trying to connect with people in the F1 industry for mentoring and looking for sponsorship. In addition to Driven Women Magazine, other sponsors who have come on board with the team so far include Programmed and Albert Park Rotary.

“Securing sponsors has been surprisingly harder than it sounds. It is a long drawn out process and I have to be on the ball. Always communicating and following up with sponsors and potential sponsors,” said Ella. This sounds like something I’ve heard many Team Managers say in the past.

Meanwhile Arabelle, the Resource Manager has been working on balancing the cost sheet. “I have to make sure that we buy high quality items, but for a good price. I have been in the process of ordering merchandise such as wind breaker jackets, drink bottles, and pens. As well as connecting with other companies in the manufacturing industry to work with,” said Arabelle.

The F1 is Schools competition provides participants a ‘whole of industry’ look at what it takes to make an F1 team work. Wynter is the Graphic Designer and her role has involved designing the logo, business cards and merchandise.

“I’ve been hard at work making all these different designs, which has been very exciting, I’ve learned so much throughout the competition so far and I can’t wait to continue to learn new things,” said Wynter.

Though it’s not necessarily part of their roles Kitty and Wynter have been very interested in learning about aerodynamics as well. The competition has also helped Wynter improve her time management skills and she feels she is showing a great improvement compared to past years of her schooling. Proof that the F1in Schools program is so much more than just a car design competition.

For more information about how you can support Troop Athena, please visit their website and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Photographs by Troop Athena.