01 The brief
STEM Racing (formerly F1 in Schools) is a competition where school teams design, build, market and race miniature F1 cars. Every car has to pass strict dimensional rules.
Our project started through digital design classes, extra classes and workshops. As the team’s designer, part of my job was turning the car from an STL mesh (fine for 3D printing, hard to measure) into a proper STEP solid that could be checked against the rules.
02 What I did
- Worked as part of a school team to design and build an F1 car.
- Converted the car’s STL mesh into a STEP solid, removed embossed text and rebuilt the NURBS surfaces.
- Verified dimensional compliance against the regulations.
- Analysed the hub geometry and selected 3 × 6 × 2.5 mm bearings, comparing hybrid and full-ceramic options.
- Worked with the team on marketing and on sourcing parts from abroad.
- Reached the STEM Racing India Nationals at Sharda University (July 2026).
03 Engineering notes
Mesh vs solid
An STL describes a surface as thousands of flat triangles. A STEP file describes true solid geometry, so CAD tools can measure it precisely, which is exactly what a compliance check needs.
Reading a bearing size
3 × 6 × 2.5 mm means a 3 mm bore, 6 mm outer diameter and 2.5 mm width. Hybrid bearings use ceramic balls in steel races; full-ceramic bearings use ceramic throughout.
04 Toolchain
05 What’s next
Photos of the finished car and the Nationals will be added here.