A team of Adelaide students is heading to the global stage after an incredible win at the 2026 STEM Racing National Championships, with Charles Campbell College now set to represent Australia in Singapore later this year.
Last weekend, the school’s Fusion team claimed the national title in the highly competitive STEM Racing program, a global initiative supported by Formula One that challenges students to design, build and race miniature F1-style cars.
The team didn’t just win overall, they also took home awards for Best Engineered Car and Best Manufactured Car, marking them as one of the most technically accomplished teams in the country. They pushed all the way to the grand final of the knockout racing competition, narrowly missing out on the top spot in that final showdown.
Their success has now secured them a place at the 2026 World Finals in Singapore, where they’ll once again represent Australia against the best student engineering teams from around the globe. Notably, Charles Campbell College will be the only public school representing the country at the international event.
STEM & Technologies Teacher Daniel Marotti said the achievement was especially meaningful, with the program working towards this result for years. “It’s been about six or seven years that we’ve been running the program, and the aim was always to win this one,” he said. “We came very close in 2023 and just came short, so this one was extra special… it was nice to finally put our name on the trophy.”
Charles Campbell College is just the second SA school to ever win the national championship, and Fusion recorded the second-highest overall score ever seen in the Professional Class, showing the strength of their engineering, design and enterprise work.
The STEM Racing competition, formerly known globally as F1 in Schools, brings together elements of engineering, design, branding and business. Students are tasked with creating high-performance miniature race cars using CAD software, advanced manufacturing techniques and aerodynamic testing, before racing them on a compressed-air powered track.
“It pretty much replicates what a real Formula One team would do,” Marotti explained. “You’ve got car engineers, enterprise and branding teams, and students creating portfolios to document how they refine their car and their performance.”
The competition isn’t just about speed (although it still helps to go fast). Teams are judged across a range of categories including engineering, project management, branding and portfolio development, making it one of the most comprehensive STEM competitions available to students worldwide.
Behind the scenes, the commitment from students has been immense. “They come in every single lunchtime, after school until about 6 or 6:30 at night, and they work at home as well,” Marotti said. “There’s a lot of extra hours they put in to make sure they can achieve high scores in the competition.”
Charles Campbell College wasn’t the only SA success story at the event. The school’s Quantum Racing team also delivered an outstanding performance, finishing second overall in the Development Class.
Quantum Racing secured multiple major awards, including Best Engineered Car, Best Engineered CAD, Best Team Portfolio and Best Managed Enterprise, missing out on the overall title by just eight points in a tightly contested division.
Marotti said the strength of both teams reflects a growing belief among students. “I think it just comes down to knowing what’s possible,” he said. “Even though we’re a public school, we can compete on the world stage.”
Together, the results underline South Australia’s growing strength in STEM education and innovation, with local students proving they can compete at the highest level on both a national and global stage.
All eyes now turn to Singapore, where Fusion will take on the world’s best in what promises to be a high-speed, high-stakes international final.
For Marotti, the moment the team was announced as national champions was hard-earned. “I got a little bit emotional about it,” he said. “We’ve been trying to achieve it for a couple of years… so it was pretty special.”
For more info on STEM Racing, click here.
