Budding Brighton Grammar students score Aramco STEM Racing World Champions 2025 win
All the late-night tinkering has paid off for five Brighton Grammar students who engineered their way past 82 teams to be crowned global STEM champions.
A group of promising Brighton Grammar students have made their mark on the world stage, after defeating 82 international teams in the Aramco STEM Racing World Champions 2025.
The talented group of 17-year-olds – known as team Lunar – cemented Australia’s reputation as a global leader in innovation, science and technology at the event’s awards ceremony in Singapore this week.
Over the course of four days, the boys were judged by 60 motorsport, marketing, education and industry experts as they engineered and raced pint-sized race cars and spoke in verbal presentations.
Their innovative skills and creativity earned them the coveted World Championships trophy, ahead of students from Germany who took second place and the United Kingdom which came in at third.
Team manager Leo Jansen said it was “incredible” to see many late nights and hours of hard work “encapsulated in one trophy”.
“Our connectedness as a team has been instrumental in this success. We came third last year, and we were so determined to go two better, so to achieve that is just awesome,” he said.
Leo said the group – which consists of engineering director Max Zylberman, enterprise director Max Zhou, CAD (Computer-Aided-Design) engineer Oliver Chernikeeff and CAM (Computer-Aided-Manufacturing) engineer Liam Jones – took on STEM Racing to “learn stuff you don’t learn in the classroom,” such as building cars, project management and fundraising.
“Essentially, it’s like running a miniature business and getting this experience at such a young age, there’s nothing like this,” he said.
“It’s put a new perspective on STEM as well, so we’re all looking at related careers.”
The Brighton Grammar students also took home category awards including Best Engineered Car and Fastest Car.
They were also nominated for the FIA Scrutineering Award, McLaren Formula 1 team Research and Development Award, Autodesk Design and Make Award and recorded second fastest lap with a time of 1.082 seconds.
The fastest lap of the event was 1.073 seconds, which was clocked by a car built by team LYNX from Spain.
Brighton Grammar students Liam and Max Zylberman were also among 10 outstanding participants selected to be part of the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy, where they will receive exclusive mentorship and experience from both Komatsu and Williams Racing.
Max said winning a spot in the academy was a “milestone and a real stepping stone” for both his and Liam’s careers.
STEM Racing chief executive and founder Andrew Denford said this year’s event was one of the most competitive and inspiring world finals ever held.
“The standard of work achieved by every team has been outstanding and it blows me away with the depth of engineering knowledge, the innovations developed by the students and their passion for STEM Racing,” he said.
“Lunar had to work extremely hard to take the World Champions title and are worthy winners, well done.”
In a statement, Brighton Grammar congratulated the boys on their success.
“This amazing result is a testament to their dedication, innovative thinking, and countless hours of hard work. Their success on the global stage is an inspiration for us all,” it said.
STEM Racing is a not-for-profit social enterprise aiming to promote the learning of STEM subjects.
Its global competition allows students aged six to 19 to participate in a multidisciplinary challenge where they must use professional CAD software to design, analyse, manufacture, test, and race miniature air powered F1 cars.
Originally published as Budding Brighton Grammar students score Aramco STEM Racing World Champions 2025 win
