Four of our secondary students – Year 11s Mankaran and Rachit, and Year 10s Reesha and Neko – recently competed in the STEM Racing Victorian state finals at Wyndham Tech School.
Here are the observations of both a student and a mentor who attended the event.
Student’s perspective – Rachit (Year 11)
Being part of STEM Racing Australia with Manor Lakes Performance (MLP) was an incredibly valuable and memorable experience. STEM Racing is a competition where students design, develop and race miniature Formula 1-style cars while learning about engineering, business, marketing and teamwork.
As the creative and marketing head and public relations representative, my role involved developing the team’s identity, promoting our work and building our presence through social media and marketing.
I was involved in creating content for platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, and helping showcase our progress and achievements, with our content reaching more than 48,000 views.
Throughout the competition, I developed valuable skills in creativity, communication, marketing, teamwork and time management. I also gained an understanding of how much planning and collaboration goes into running a professional racing team.
For me, STEM Racing was more than just a competition. It was an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone, contribute my ideas, take on responsibilities and experience what it is like to be part of a team working towards a shared goal.
It was an experience that helped me grow both personally and professionally.
Mentor’s perspective – Jesse Williams
We set up our trade display beside teams who had been innovating for years. One right beside us had a painted model of their racing car magnetically levitating at the top of a meticulously carved, multi-tiered platform painted with their team colours.
We left that first day feeling inspired, a little intimidated, but galvanised as a team.
On day two we pushed our departure from school, searching for makeshift upgrades to our trade display.
Postage delays are partially to blame.
We upgraded our trade display to what would become the V2 display. A big upgrade, but still missing our tablecloth and foldout display panels.
We spent the day going from enterprise presentation to engineering presentation, with the team charming their way through each panel, representing public schools across the state among a sea of Latin school mottos.
A contest emerged between our team principal, Mankaran, and our enterprise and finance head, Neko, to become the team driver. Both faces buried in the red glow of the starting light fighting for tenths and hundredths of a second. Neko won the day.
Race day. How does it end for the underdog in real life?
Again we were on first thing – a 9am race. The team got in a few last-minute race starts at the friendly track and Neko retained her pace, securing her position as driver for the team.
Then we were called to the pit lane.
Neko pushed through the crowd to the starting line. Mankaran checked the position of the car. Rachit (creative director) waited at the finish line to get the perfect shot while Reesha (enterprise manager) stood and held her breath with myself and assistant principal Ms Coleman.
One red light. Two, three, four, five.
Silence falls over the racetrack.
The lights blink out and Neko reacts, beating the experienced competition by 0.019 of a second. The cars shoot off down the 20-metre straight and the car beside us swerves wildly, losing a wheel and nearly flying off the track.
I say we won that first race due to their disqualification.
The B cars are brought forward and the starting line is arranged again.
Silence.
Lights out.
Neko gets the best reaction again and our car explodes down the track, crossing the line at a competitive 1.422 seconds and winning the second race.
Two for two.
Then we swapped lanes. Though Neko’s reaction times continued to drop, winning each race as a driver, our race times climbed. Did the car degenerate? Was lane two cursed? We’ll never know.
The knockout race was similarly close. We were competitive. Against cars that had been in development for years, ours was on the track for the first time that day. It ran smoothly, reliably and quickly. But not quite quick enough for the podium.
Despite all that the team had achieved, overcoming the odds, racing a beautiful car, and finally getting our tablecloth and display panels set up, it was hard to learn that sometimes the underdog doesn’t win in the end.
Even our noble leader hung his head in the minibus on the way back to school. But a quick stop at a certain food chain did something to lighten the mood.
And we’re still awaiting the announcement for the wildcard selection at nationals.
Manor Lakes Performance has barely begun.
