The events of the “Formula Students” competition, which is organized by global Egyptian “Rahala” team, kicked off Saturday with the participation of a number of officials from the sports sector and the Egyptian Automobile and Touring Club, as well as representatives from the ministries of trade, international cooperation, higher education, and military production, in addition to the deans of the engineering faculties in different universities.
Rahala team announced the start of a training course to prepare students of mechanical engineering across Egypt and encourage students to participate in the competition, in addition to providing them with all the technical skills necessary to form a skillful team and achieve the best results, as well as compete against other countries.
Students are trained to design and manufacture race cars, especially the one-seat formula cars. Maintenance and examinations are carried out every two months up until the date of the competition in order to challenge any technical issues and leave the team prepared for the competition based on international safety laws.
During the press conference, Tarek El Eryan, chairperson of Formula Students’ board of directors, said that maintenance is carried out through two aspects. The first is technical, making sure that the car matches the international security standards, while the second includes static tests, such as ones of the design of the car and the creativity in its design. The number of participants in the competition is 40, all from different universities nationwide.
El Eryan explained that the number of universities participating in the first year of the competition ranges from 15 to 20, and ranges from 20 to 30 in the second year, and 30 to 40 in the third year.
The number of the team members ranges from 15 to 40, while larger teams have a number of members of 70, 80, or 90.
Karim Elwan, the referee of the designing competition in Formula Students, explained the dynamic details of the race, where the fastest cars making the largest number of rounds without losing speed or track monitored.
He stressed that arbitration is done through an experienced team of referees as well as another team of foreign referees. Karim Elwan was part of Munich University’s team and is the driver of the car that won the first place in this year’s design.
The main goal of the competition is to put sports car racing as one of the top sports and support it greatly to take Egypt to international competitions and qualify young people to develop skills and help them merge in international events in a way that benefits their homeland. This will eventually create a generation able to innovate and compete with the gained international experiences from international competitions.
Rahala team was the only Egyptian team taking part in the famous Dakar Rally in 2013. It has been able to occupy a special place in the World Cross Country Rally in 2009. The team won the second place in the category of two-wheel drives in the world cup in 2011, and the fifth place in the two-wheel drive category in 2011 in Spanish Baja 2011. The team was able to record special places in the world cup for three years in a row, from 2010 to 2012.
On the local level, the team won the Egyptian Rally Championship several times from 2009 to 2016. Rahala team took part in all Pharaohs rallies since 2009, and won the Gouna championship four years respectively in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The team includes 24 members who are technical and logistical experts.
The team plays a main role in spreading the road safety culture through raising awareness among young people. The team has been using Egyptian cars since 2014, and is constantly developing this car to take them to a high level of performance.
