Competing against other schools can be hard but for the F1 club it was even harder as they had to go against other schools from other countries.

Engineering teacher John Sayce, advised members of the Lone Star Racing team from Akins.

“This was a really big deal for us because it was our first year competing against other countries, and it took a lot of effort but it paid off and it was a lot of fun,” Sayce said.

Although they didn’t make it in the top three they still did what they can to get as far as they could.

“I think that we needed to focus more on the engineering on the car, all we did most of the time was use a simulation instead of actually testing the car,” Sayce said.

Even though they didn’t test their car a lot they did learn many things throughout all this.

“The students learned how to work with other teams through long distance, they also learned how to problem solve, program management, how other countries and cultures worked, and their networking skills,” Sayce said.

Although Sayce advised the Lone Star Racing, it was the students who actually built the car and these students also enjoyed it.

“Competition was a fun experience, my favorite part was the racing and the collaboration from all the other teams from around the world,” Junior Erwin Niera said.

Neira admits the experience was worthwhile.

“It was a fun experience, and I know it will help me out in the long run, and it was incredible meeting the other teams,” said Neira.

But Neira wasn’t the only person on the team; sophomore James Garcia also helped build and present the F1 car.

“Competition was alright, we won the award for best team identity but my favorite part was meeting people from all around the world,” Garcia said.

The competition wasn’t just racing; there was also a verbal presentation and a pit display.

“The verbal presentation was pretty interesting, some people forgot parts but that was the fun about it because some people could wing it,” said Garcia “While the verbal presentation was interesting the pit display was a pain.”

The students enjoyed meeting people from around the world.

“Because of the competition I now have friends from other countries and I still talk to them,” Garcia said.

Junior Hannah Holder also attended the event.

“Competition went really well, we got best team identity which means we combined our pit display, our uniform and our portfolio the best,” Holder said.

“My favorite part was the after party, I made a lot of good friends and good memories.”

Unfortunately Akins F1 team was not the fastest car out there.

“It was a little heartbreaking because the other teams cars were faster but we’ll beat them next year,” Holder said.