Thursday, Jun 03, 2010
Gulf News
Abu Dhabi The Impulse team from Dubai College have their fingers on the pulse about what makes a successful Formula One team.
After emerging as UAE champions in the F1 in Schools competition they will now represent the country in the world competition in Singapore.
Led by team manager Pooja Nair with fellow students Anas Syed (design manager), Louisa Henson (resources manager), Laura Shaw (manufacturing engineer), Dominic Pabuliski (design engineer) and Naomi Leech (graphic designer), the Dubai College team was not the fastest but topped in Team Identity and Team Display Tent to finish as champions.
Team Impulse will represent the UAE at the 2010 World Championship in Singapore while runners-up in yesterday's UAE final, Indian High School Dubai, will join with a team from an Australian school for the championship.
"We put in a lot of hard work and got some terrific support from the staff as well as the team who represented us last year.
"We know we will have to improve on the speed aspect and we will start working on those areas," said Pooja.
Don Sankey, the driving force behind the competition in the Middle East said: "Last year the UAE champions finished 28th out of 31 teams.
"But this year the participating teams have raised the bar and I am hoping for a top 10 if not better performance by the UAE champions."
A total of 11 teams took part in the UAE competition while the world champion will see winners from over 33 countries taking part in the finals during the Singapore Grand Prix.
High standard
"I am extremely impressed by the high standard of all the entries," said Richard Cregan, chief executive officer of Yas Marina Circuit.
"Having the possibility of two teams competing in this year's world championship will be a huge boost to building the F1 in Schools franchise here in the UAE."
Representing the sponsors Humaid Al Shemmari, executive director of Mubadala Aerospace, said: "This challenge offers us the opportunity to engage UAE students in an entertaining yet educational experience to inspire them to seek out a future in high-tech industries".
By M. Satya Narayan
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
