A determined group of students and support staff from the Scarborough Academy for Technological, Environmental and Computer Sciences program at W A Porter Collegiate Institute are seeking financial support to compete in a North American F1 model competition in Nashville, Tennessee.
The students, whose team is called Nitro Racing, earned the right to compete by placing first among 15 Canadian entries in December. They also won Best Verbal Presentation Award, Best Video Challenge Award, and Best Provincial Championship Award. Their slogan is: “Engineered for victory, crafted with innovation.”
They are scheduled to compete in the North American Championship in Nashville, April 7-9. Their goal is to raise between $10,000-$15,000 to pay for their expenses. The students, who include team manager Joel Sam Binish and teammates Ramisa Obaid, Antonis Kefallonitis, Arun Rajakumar, and Arunavo Barua, are from the east end of Toronto, Ontario.
“These kids work so hard, they know that they are appreciated,” said Nikola Cunjak, one of the school’s vice principals. “These young people have also overcome the challenges of living in an urban metropolis. They commit to school, their extra curricular activities, they ignore the distractions that a young person faces and commit to this work. This is a financial commitment and some families just can’t afford it. When I talk to parents, that’s the big concern.”
Some of the students are in their graduating years and have aspirations of working in the automotive industry as engineers. “Innovation and cars are a big part of what they do,” said Cunjak.
The students built and designed the model cars, which are 1/20th scale of an F1 car, and are about a foot long. Sam Binish said winning the event was a testament to the hard work of the students. A group of the school’s students won the right to represent Canada in the 2018 North American tournament, but lacked the funding. Following COVID, the club program went dormant.
“It was a relief to win,” said Sam Binish. “I started this back in March because the club was on and off for a little while, so I took charge over it.”
They shipped their car to Florida for the virtual event, but it was held up because of a postal strike in Canada. It took two and a half weeks to build the first car, so they had to scramble to build a second one in two days and ship it by Purolator.
“I really wanted to be in the competition,” said Sam Binish. “I said we’re shipping the car no matter what. I made sure we had the car ready in two days. They let us stay after school extra hours to finish the car.”
The car runs on carbon dioxide and the winning time was 1.2 seconds. Anyone interested in supporting the students can do so at their GoFundMe page.
Corporate donations are also being sought and sponsors will receive logo placement on the car, team uniforms and portfolios; recognition on the team’s website and social media channels; and banner displays at racing events and other promotional and networking opportunities during races.
For corporate or company donations, you can use this link.
