National Qualifiers 2026 · F1 in Schools India

TEAM
PROTO

We redesigned this car 37 times, paid for everything ourselves, and somehow made it to nationals.
Four students from JNS GIFT City, Gujarat.

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Design Iterations
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Drag Force (gF)
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Our Story

HOW WE
GOT HERE

We're four students from JNS GIFT City who showed up to regionals with three printed posters, a car we built for ₹21,420, and way too many late nights behind us.

01

Three Posters

That was our entire pit display at regionals. Three printed sheets taped to a board. Other teams had full setups — we had confidence and a really good car.

02

Zero Debt

₹21,420 total. Split four ways from our own pockets. No sponsors telling us what to do, no loans, no favours. Just four guys putting their money where their mouth is.

03

Nationals

And we still qualified. A ₹21k car, built in four months on borrowed 3D printers, made it to the national stage. We didn't wait for perfect — we just shipped it.

Engineering

THE F1 PROTO
V37

V37 means we scrapped the design 36 times before we got here. Every version taught us something — a drag coefficient that was too high, a flow that separated too early, a shape that didn't pass regulation. This is the one that worked.

CFD Validated — Autodesk CFD at 20 m/s Inlet

Ran it through CFD and the flow stays laminar across the cockpit and sidepods. We tweaked the rear wing to −2° to clean up the wake. End result: 84gF total drag — and the turbulence stays tight behind the wing.

Chassis
V37-PU+PETG
Polyurethane CNC body, PETG wheels
Drag Force
84 gF
Autodesk CFD at 20 m/s inlet velocity
Target Speed
35 m/s
Straight-line laminar concept target
Weight
60 g
Meets 50g minimum, with ballast included
Wheel Dia
30 mm
Raw PETG finish, Regulation T7.5 compliant
Bearings
MR105-ZZ
0.1mm press-fit, custom low-viscosity lube
Thrust
9 N
CO2 canister power unit delivery
Iterations
V 37
37 full Fusion 360 redesigns over 4 months
The Build

HOW WE
BUILT IT

October
Ideation

Started with YouTube videos on aerodynamics and a lot of scribbling. Figured out we wanted laminar flow, picked our materials, and convinced ourselves this was actually doable.

November
CAD Design

Shaan basically lived in Fusion 360 this month. 37 versions. Some were tiny tweaks, some were full restarts at 2 AM because the numbers weren't right.

December
CFD & Print

Dharav ran CFD and we got 84gF — we were actually screaming. Started printing on a borrowed Bambu Lab X1. Tested PETG, PLA, and ABS until we found what worked.

January
Sprint & Ship

The final push. Barely slept. Found an axle alignment problem that almost killed the whole thing. Fixed it by hand, ran the treadmill test, and somehow made nationals.

CRITICAL INCIDENT 07.0
THE AXLE MISALIGNMENT

During dry assembly we found a 0.5mm offset in the axle holes — enough to fail regulation T7.2. The PLA had warped while cooling. We didn't have time or money to reprint. So we clamped the chassis down, took an 8mm drill bit, and manually rebored the holes using a laser level as a guide. No reprint. Fixed by hand. All four wheels made contact again.

TREADMILL TEST 09.0
STRUCTURAL VALIDATION
PASS
PETG Axles
Zero bending or fatigue under 10 km/hr sustained load
PASS
Wheel Security
Press-fit MR105-ZZ — zero wobble or dislodgement
PASS
Full Compliance
All F1 in Schools Regulation T7 requirements satisfied
The Crew

THE
TEAM

Four people, two schools, one car. JNS GIFT City and Podar. Hover to meet us.

H
Hitanshu
Team Manager
Marketing Lead
Keeps the rest of us on track. Handles the brand, the budget, and the "guys, we need to actually finish this" conversations. The reason we hit deadlines.
SL
Shaan
Lead Engineer
CAD Head
The one who spent 37 versions in Fusion 360 trying to shave off fractions of a gram. If you hear someone muttering about drag coefficients at 3 AM, that's him.
D
Dharav
CFD Lead
Graphic Designer
Ran every CFD simulation and designed everything you see. If the airflow data looks clean and the branding looks good, that's Dharav's doing.
DK
Dharak
Sponsorship
Strategic Liaison
Cold-emailed Koenigsegg and got a reply in 48 hours. Brought Varologic and ViitorCloud on board. If someone needs convincing, Dharak's the one making the call.
Stubborn
3 AM sprint sessions, every week
Precise
0.05 mm tolerances, by hand
Scrappy
Borrowed printers, DIY fixes
Our Partners

WHO
BACKS US

VAROLOGIC
Technical Partner
3D Printing Facilities & Technical Mentorship
VIITORCLOUD
Financial Partner
₹10,000 Cash Contribution · CNC Manufacturing
SUPERCHARGED
Mentorship Partner
Internationals Finalist · Strategic Guidance
K
WE EMAILED KOENIGSEGG

Dharak sent a cold email to Koenigsegg. Not a template — an actual, proper proposal. They replied in 48 hours. Personally. They couldn't partner with us due to existing commitments, but the fact that a hypercar company took the time to respond to four students in Gujarat? That meant something to us.

Let's Talk

LET'S
TALK

We're going to nationals with or without help — but it'd be a lot cooler with your name on the car. If you like what we're building, reach out. Worst case, we have a good conversation.

proto.motors11@gmail.com @proto.motors
Shaan Lashkari · +91-6354609194