ISLAMABAD: A group of girl students from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) are employing mechanical skills to produce a car to participate in the International Formula Student competition that will be held in Silverstone car racing track, United Kingdom (UK), in July.
Through excessive effort and hard work, the 15-member ‘Team Auj’ has successfully secured its place as a registered participant of the International Formula Student competition.
This initiative taken by young students raise women participation in the motor-sports industry is gaining momentum as these talented girls continue to utilize their skills and knowledge in designing and manufacturing a formula-style race car for the competition.
The team is not only determined to land a position among the topmost teams of the competition but is also prepared to have its impact on the society by encouraging able women to put their knowledge and creativity to a better, more practical use, according to a report published in an international newspaper.
Team Auj is one of the many initiatives to increase women empowerment but what sets it apart from other campaigns is its access to an international audience. It also aims at encouraging Pakistani women to involve themselves in projects that are usually restricted to the male gender and broaden their horizons, allowing them to become more independent.
Thus far, Team Auj has managed to win the support of some of the biggest companies in Pakistan and attract many sponsors through the unique and significant concept. It is demonstrating their exemplary skills to an international audience through Formula Student, enabling the world to see the real capability of Pakistani women.
It would be a delight to see the team succeed in achieving its objectives both in the UK and within Pakistan, the report said, adding Team Auj was a praiseworthy initiative to bring about social development and create a favourable environment for advocates of social reforms.
Talking to APP, Marketing Manager of the team, Wardah Jamal said that it was the ‘first all-girls team’ which would represent Pakistan in the competition with a car no 199 on the race track.
She said all team members were the NUST students, who were selected for the competition based on the university’s BLC (Business Logic Case). BLC, she said, contained details of projected costs, sales volume, target market and the viability of the project on a larger scale.
“Due to the excellence of BLC we cleared stage one of the competition,” she added.
Wardha said the team members belonged to different disciplines, including electrical engineering, industrial designing and business management, while there was no mechanical engineer in the team.
“The competition is organized by IMECHE- Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Hence mechanical engineers can be an asset to any team for this competition, but Team Auj aims to prove that you do not have to be confined to your university degrees. You can explore your options if you’re ambitious,” she said.
“We promote youth development and women empowerment. Women are competing in a field that’s restricted solely to males. Our female team members perform the work normally done by males such as cutting, grinding, welding and networking in the market,” she added.
The race car driver of team Auj, she added, was also a female, who would be competing with males.
