Two teenagers share Best Car Design award

Two teenagers yesterday shared a cash prize of Dh6,000 for winning the Best Car Design Section under the Best Engineering Design Competition.

Fifteen-year-old Israr Haq, a UAE national from Abu Dhabi, won in the category for youngsters aged between 10 and 15, while Laxman Nayar, a 17-year-old Indian living in Dubai, won in the 16 to 20 age group.

The two winners will be awarded at the closing ceremony of the Techno Surprises Week at The BurJuman Centre on Wednesday.

Remaining winners, who will not take part at the week's closing ceremony, received prizes as well.
The competition displayed 37 outstanding inventions by youngsters who were mostly UAE nationals.

Competitors were requested to imagine and create 'the car of the future', developing a concept around their invention and constructing a feasible model usable in an imaginary future world.

The results were impressive, because participants used all kind of materials and invented the oddest shapes, drawing inspiration from different concepts of the future and possible developments of technology.

Cars ranged from strange shuttles of silver paper operated by solar energy to Batman cars with air screws on the top, from hydrogen-operated houses on wheels to levitating cars with no wheels and no handles.

"The winners for the cars category were carefully selected after a display of the inventions in Mazaya Centre," explained Lt. Khalfan Al Jalaf, member of the Techno Surprises Organising Committee.

"Each participant was also interviewed by the judging committee to hear their design ideas and explanations, and the committee were very impressed with the high level of expertise demonstrated."

Professor Samuel Shanks, from the jury of experts and engineers who chose the winners, said the participants displayed creativity and imagination.

"We asked the competitors not only to build a machine, but to develop a more comprehensive project, thinking about the possible applications of technology in the future. The entries show that the competitors took the thing very seriously and the results are notable".

Nayar, who won the first prize in the 16-20 age group, studies at Our Own English High School in Dubai and is fond of technology and science. He created an original version of a house on wheels, elaborating on a complex concept around which his project is built.

"In a future world, men will have to face problems related to deforestation and scarcity of land due to overpopulation.

"My idea of the future is of a world in eternal movement, with houses on wheels, where no forests are destroyed to build houses and all rent problems disappear.

"The house on wheels will be controlled by computer-generated pilots and guided by GPS systems, very similar to a Robocop model.

"No petrol will be needed because cars will be hydrogen-operated and will be made of carbon fibre, stronger than steel but lighter than aluminium, and totally biodegradable," noted Nayar while explaining his vision.

He has thought about all details, even if the risk of traffic jams cast a shadow on his idea. But he thinks there's no need to get too alarmed. After all, there are so many streets and it is only an imaginary car.

The deadline to receive entries was August 17.

Today, competitors in the planes category and tomorrow those in the Multimachine Section will be judged at Mazaya Centre and all their works will be displayed.

All prizes will be awarded during the closing ceremony.