On the 25th of July, while the entire nation awaited the final decision of the Panama Verdict, these young brats, from NED did something sensational. Formula Fusion, one of the teams from NED University of Engineering and Technology, secured a prestigious Breakthrough Award at the Annual Formula Student 2017 held at the Silverstone Racing Circuit in Northamptonshire, for building a lightweight formula racing car.
The team competed with 85 leading international engineering universities, from 65 countries. The cars were judged on the basis of acceleration, speed, handling, and endurance. Plus, this was the first time, that Pakistan made its mark in the event.
In an interview, with a news channel, Ali Arham, a member of Formula Fusion stated that he would like to thank his university, and the vice-chancellor, for their constant support, and also for giving them the opportunity, to enlighten Pakistan’s name worldwide. He further stated that the judges were really impressed by the design of the car, mainly because of its air resistance characteristic. The car weighed only 170 kilograms, mainly because of the lightweight carbon fiber used for the car’s body. However, the seating capacity of the car is only 1.
The students started working on this project, back in December 2015, starting with intensive research, and several phases of conceptual testings. The students didn’t receive any kind of help from the government, yet this did not make them lose motivation, and they had to get loans from family members, in order to import parts for the car. However, they thanked PIA for helping them to send the car for free to Britain.
Due to some clearance issues, at the taxation department, the car entered post the start of the event. However, they demonstrated how they assembled the car and prepared it in Karachi in front of the judges and international students.
Despite a number of hindrances and setbacks, the team stood out, even though this was their first appearance, still, they managed to bag this prestigious award. The group was presented with a BMW F1 aerodynamic part, as an appreciation memento from F1 specialist William Toet. The students shared that how much they were filled with pride and joy upon representing Pakistan in this international event, and they also appealed to the Government of Pakistan and respective authorities, to help a student who wants to make it big at the international ground, but lack resources.
Talking about their future plans they said that they would like to hold a workshop to train like-minded students, to enable them, to eventually participate in international events and represent Pakistan.
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