Three of the kingdom’s most creative engineering minds are joining together to represent Bahrain on the world stage during an intensive design competition to be held in December.
Ahmed Khan, Yakim Dondi and Robert Dewar, all 17, will take part in the finals of the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools competition, to be held on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
The challenge involves between three and six team members working together to design and build a radio controlled four-wheel drive (4x4) vehicle, to set specifications. The vehicle must be able to successfully negotiate a specially designed test track emulating real life and it must perform as a full scale 4x4 vehicle would do in an off-road situation.
Ahmed is taking the role of team manager, Yakim is the car manufacturer and engineer, whilst Robert is the logistics manager and graphic designer. The team name is LVT, named after a coffee shop where the three close friends meet regularly and came up with the plans and designs for their model.
Ahmed said: “Yakim and I participated in the F1 in Schools World Finals in Singapore in 2015. Due to this, after contacting Land Rover 4x4 in Schools, we were granted an invitation to represent Bahrain at the World Finals because of our previous experience in a competition which has very similar demands in terms of the challenge and regulations.
“We are also the first ever Bahraini team to be invited to the Land Rover 4x4 finals so the ambition is to gain valuable experience and then raise awareness for competitions such as this within schools in Bahrain, so that young individuals can gain vital engineering experience on their own.”
The boys are all in their final year at St Christopher’s School Bahrain, but they decided to take up this competition independently, and therefore, are not relying on the school for any of the arrangements including sponsorship, equipment and logistics.
Ahmed explained: “This means that the experience is more gruelling and we’re still looking for sponsorship money from anyone who can help us, but we think it’s more enjoyable in the long run. Knowing we supported ourselves and did everything from scratch will feel so much more rewarding in the end.”
The three members of LVT quickly assigned themselves roles based on their interests and strengths. Yakim is the main manufacturer of the car, which entails creating a car that matches all the technical regulations and competition regulations. He is also in charge of the electronics of the car, which includes implementing sensors.
Ahmed has the job of arranging the full team and assisting with most of the work. His main role is to help Yakim with the engineering, however, he is also in charge of public relations, sponsorship and website designing.
Robert is in charge of the pit display, presentations and also maintains the duty of being the social media manager of the team. He also helps out with any other tasks such as logistics management and equipment deliveries.
As well as testing themselves on the international stage, the boys are using 4x4 in Schools as a platform to develop their skills to use in their future careers.
Ahmed said: “I am seizing the opportunity as I genuinely have an interest in engineering. My main aim is to get into F1 when I’m older to either work as a mechanical engineer or work as a computer scientist. F1 in Schools was a competition which kind of exposed me to the adventure that F1 can bring, so I have made it an ambition of mine to get into F1 in the future, and this is a major step towards that.
Yakim explained: “I am also interested in engineering and am strongly considering going into that field. I’m specifically interested in designing and building prototypes which is something I did during F1 in Schools and am now getting the chance to do again.”
Robert isn’t as keen on the engineering side of things, but this was a blessing as the team needed a member who was handy at other facets of the competition. He said: “The great thing about this competition is it allows individuals with different skill-sets to combine and create an overall product. I’m more into subjects such as English Literature and can be handy on a computer for specific tasks, thus I’m in charge of logistics and connecting with companies that will be helping in making our car and displays.”
LVT’s next step is securing the BD1,500 sponsorship money they need to proceed with building their car. This is to cover car costs, hotel costs, flights and any competition fees that they will have to pay.
Once they have the funding, 4x4 in Schools provides a kit that which costs around 200BD. That kit has fundamentals such as sensors, lights, and the basic engineering start-up that the team needs for their prototype. The team will then need to buy extra equipment that will be vital in making the car.
In the meantime, over the summer break the trio have been focussing on the other facets of the competition.
Ahmed explained: “4x4 does not only revolve around the car. It involves the pit displays, portfolios and presentations too, all of which are marked and counted towards the overall score that your team gets.
“We have researched the basic car design though, and we do know what we are going to do, it just has not been computerised on a CAD/CAM software yet.”
For more information or to sponsor the boys for their exciting adventure, visit www.lvtbahrain.info, email lvtbahrain@outlook.com or call 32381565.
