THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s going to be a moment of great pride for Amod Jayakrishnan Varma, Adhithya Sathyanath, Kunal Tiwari, Akash Milland Dudhe and Trun Vishal. The five 12th grade students from India are all set to represent UAE in the 2022 schools’ F1 world finals to be held at Silverstone in UK from July 9 to July 15. Of these, Amod and Adhitiya are Keralites.
The team ‘Istiophix’ emerged as the national champion of the 2021 schools’ F1 competition in UAE. The students from Bhavans Abu Dhabi won the Best Portfolio Award in the competition. Sixteen-year-old Amod Jayakrishnan Varma is a graphic designer, manufacturing and CFD testing engineer of team Istiophix.
“We took a week to complete our preparation for the nationals. But for the world championship, we have been preparing for a year. We joined as a team in 11th grade. Around two-three teams from Bhavans compete every year at the nationals. The count may vary in different countries. Since the UAE is a small country compared to India, we have only national and international competitions,” he says.
According to him, the team is currently looking for sponsors for their international championship. “Winning the nationals is an inspiration for us to step into the world of science and technology. In our school, we started a small team to support younger talents in the field. Last week the national finals were held, wherein six teams from our school participated,” says Amod.
According to Amod’s father JayaKrishnan Varma, the team has to prepare portfolios and pit booths for the competition. Based on this, the judging panel will finalise the winners. “Last year, our students won the nationals in the professional category. Now, they are heading towards the world championship next week,” the proud father says.
F1 in Schools
F1 in schools are conducted annually, hosting 10,000 students from across 50 countries. The multi-disciplinary competition is a venture of Formula 1 and other industrial partners. The challenge students to engineer, manufacture, represent and race small prototype F1 cars using Aerodynamic principles. Students have to create a portfolio to gain sponsors and pitch for collaborative proposals to fund their projects.