Team Icarus won the Luxembourg STEM Racing™ national finals and will represent the country at the World Finals in Singapore. Hosted at the International School of Luxembourg, the event showcased young talents in engineering, design and racing. The thrilling final was decided by just 0.005 seconds.
The national STEM Racing™ finals brought together some of Luxembourg’s most motivated young engineering talents for a full day of competition, technical presentations and high-speed racing. Hosted at the International School of Luxembourg (ISL), the event highlighted not only the students’ creativity and technical skills, but also the growing interest in STEM education and engineering challenges in the Grand Duchy.
Behind the scenes, a large ISL support team ensured the smooth preparation, installation and dismantling of the event infrastructure. They were joined by eight on-site judges, three remote judges and three race managers who supervised the different stages of the competition. Four members of our board were actively involved in the organisation, some of them also taking part in judging the competitors: Thierry Flies, Christian Zeyen, Daniel Collignon and Ralph Useldinger.
Christian Zeyen particularly highlighted the commitment and motivation of all the volunteers who support and mentor the teams throughout the year across a wide range of disciplines, enabling the development of the miniature cars, from computer-aided design to 3D printing. It is a rich learning journey that strongly inspires interest in engineering careers.
A total of eight teams successfully qualified for the national finals: four competing at entry-level for beginners and four at higher levels aimed at more experienced participants. Throughout the day, teams were evaluated not only on the speed of their miniature F1 racing cars, but also on engineering design, teamwork, project management, branding, marketing and communication skills during interviews and presentations with the judges.
The racing itself produced several impressive performances. The fastest CO₂-powered miniature racing car of the day, designed by team Lëtz Race from ISL, reached nearly 63 km/h on the 20-metre track. Reaction times were equally remarkable, with the quickest launch recorded at just 0.15 seconds. In total, 84 successful car launches took place during the competition.
The knockout championship delivered one of the most exciting moments of the day. With both finalist teams performing at an almost identical level, it took five face-offs to determine the winner. Ultimately, victory was decided by an astonishing margin of only 0.005 seconds.
At the end of the competition, team Icarus, from European School II, earned the honour of representing Luxembourg at the STEM Racing™ World Finals in Singapore later this year. Other distinctions included the Tier 2 championship title awarded to Swordfish from European School II, while Lux-Trax from ISL received the Tier 3 Judges Award.
Beyond the results themselves, the event demonstrated the educational value of STEM Racing™, which combines engineering, technology, design, enterprise, teamwork and communication in a highly motivating environment for young people. Organisers now hope to further increase public awareness of the challenge, strengthen collaborations with industry partners and continue expanding this hands-on learning opportunity for students in Luxembourg.
