A student-engineered CO₂ dragster team built around Iron Man's Veronica protocol — contingency, precision and control under pressure. From CAD to CNC to the finish line, every decision on this car is documented, tested and justified.
Formerly known as F1 in Schools — a global engineering competition run in Australia by the Re-Engineering Australia Foundation (REA).
STEM Racing is a national competition where teams of students design, engineer and manufacture a miniature CO₂-powered race car from scratch — then race it down a 20-metre track against other schools. It's run at Regional, State, National and World Final level, with teams competing in Explorer, Development or Professional class depending on age and experience.
The car itself is only part of it. Teams are marked across two full portfolios — Engineering and Enterprise — covering everything from CAD and CFD analysis to branding, budgeting, sponsorship and project management. It's built to mirror a real engineering workplace: research, iterate, test, document, justify every decision.
Named after Tony Stark's Hulkbuster backup protocol — a system built for exactly one purpose: to hold under pressure when everything else can't.
When we named our team, we wanted a word that meant readiness, not brute force. Veronica — Iron Man's contingency suit from Avengers: Age of Ultron — is control engineered in advance, not improvised under panic. That's the standard we hold our own process to: research before design, testing before conclusions, and a plan for what happens when something goes wrong.
Every board on this site, from our CFD streamlines to our sponsorship tiers, is built the same way — deliberately, and for a reason we can explain to a judge, a sponsor, or each other.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. — Benjamin Franklin
We're a new team without a competition history to point to yet — so here's the honest version: what we've actually built, and when.
A structured kick-off meeting where we landed on the Iron Man Veronica theme, set expectations, and split roles by each person's strengths.
Before a single sketch, we worked through the STEM Racing rules and regulations in full, so every later design decision would already be compliant.
Logo concepts, our red/gold/blue palette and the Veronica name all came together, giving every later piece of work — car, portfolio, uniforms — one consistent identity.
Spent a day with Future Anything at Blacktown solving a smart-city problem under time pressure — a genuine stress test for how well we work together.
Our In-Schools entry, built on three prior design revisions and our first real CFD data — raced, not just rendered.
Mark V is in development, and our Engineering and Enterprise portfolios are being written up properly for the next stage of competition.
Team Veronica splits cleanly across enterprise and engineering — but every member picks up whatever the timeline needs.
Runs scheduling, coordination and quality control across the whole project. Keeps the Notion Gantt chart and WBS current so enterprise and engineering deadlines stay in sync, and leads weekly check-ins to catch delays early.
Owns Team Veronica's outward voice — social media, Open Nights, Race Day presence, and telling our story to the school community. Also supports portfolio content, refining copy and slide structure alongside Marcus.
Builds and manages sponsor relationships across our Ruby, Titanium and Gold tiers — outreach, proposals and reporting — and tracks that every partner actually receives what their tier promises.
Sketches, models and refines the car in Autodesk Fusion 360. Took the design from Mark I through Mark V, balancing REA compliance against aerodynamic performance at every revision.
Assembles the car and checks every component against the STEM Racing rulebook. Runs CNC milling, 3D printing and the multi-stage sanding process — and doubles as our button-presser on race day.
Built Veronica's visual identity — logo, colour system, uniforms and portfolio layout — in Canva, carrying the red/gold/blue language consistently across every touchpoint.
Five documented revisions, each built on CFD evidence from the last — not aesthetic guesswork.
Our first prototype, used to learn Fusion 360 and the technical regulations. Established the streamlined transition from gas canister to halo and borrowed early wing geometry from Team Onix for reference.
Nose, sidepods and front wheelbase narrowed to cut weight and surface area. The helmet profile was extended into the canister to shrink its wake, and the front wing redesigned to redirect air both vertically and horizontally.
Major sidepod redesign inspired by Team Onix's teardrop form, redirecting air vertically around the rear wheel with an external wall pushing air around it horizontally. Our first AirShaper CFD pass exposed heavy rear-end turbulence.
Sidepod channel flipped to exhaust air horizontally around the rear wheel instead of down into the track. Underbody hollowed to 1mm from the virtual cargo limit, new 3D-printed airfoil tether guides, and rear strakes added to separate wheel turbulence from clean underbody airflow. This is the car we raced at In-Schools — not our final design.
Currently in development ahead of State Finals, building on everything Mark IV's CFD data and in-schools race data told us. Details to follow as the design locks in.
Three tiers, named after the materials Veronica is built from. Spots are limited at every level — every dollar covers materials, manufacturing or our path to State Finals.
Follow our progress on Instagram
We haven't competed at State yet — so we're building relationships with people who have.
The main inspiration for our Mark III–IV sidepod geometry. We look to Onix's disciplined engineering process and portfolio structure to sharpen how we tune the car and document our own decisions.
A benchmark for professional documentation and communication strategy. Their mentors have given us direction on typography, composition and staying ahead of deadlines.
Every partnership — Ruby, Titanium or Gold — helps cover materials, manufacturing and competition costs. Reach out and the team will get back to you.
