By Dan Rubinstein
Since last July, Carleton University engineering student Leah Penny has been putting in long hours at the Red Bull Racing Technology Campus in Milton Keynes, England, a small city northwest of London.
Penny, who is nearing the finish line of a year-long co-op position, has been helping design components for a new internal combustion engine for Red Bull Racing’s Formula One car and has also been of a member of the team that’s designing part of the physical structure of the engine.
Carleton University engineering student Leah Penny
The work is iterative and extremely collaborative. Penny designs parts using CAD software and a simulation group tests the performance of these components. Designs are then refined and some of the parts are manufactured at an in-house machine shop before being tested again and further refined.
Despite the painstaking process, Penny has loved the experience.
“It’s been very demanding but very rewarding as well,” she says.
“When you do a co-op placement, you learn how to apply a lot of the things you’re taught in class to real-world situations. And then you see the stuff that you learned at school come to life.”
Moreover, the gig with Red Bull Racing, like her university studies as a whole, is an opportunity to continue pursuing her passion for racing and engineering — a combo that brought her from Nova Scotia to Carleton in the first place.
“When I was a kid, my grandfather was big into Formula One, and my dad really liked cars, so I started following racing when I was young and got into the technical aspects of the sport around grade seven,” Penny says. “I also really enjoy science. Auto racing is a nice fusion of the two. It’s technology meets competition, and engineering is really helping to push the limits.”
Start Your Engines
When Penny started at Carleton in 2021, she majored in aerospace engineering. After her second year, she switched to mechanical engineering. But auto racing has been her focus all along.
“At first I thought I wanted to do more on the aerodynamics and performance side,” she says, “but then I realized I was more interested in engines and powertrains — the systems that propel a vehicle.”
Throughout her three years at Carleton, Penny has been deeply involved with Ravens Racing, a multidisciplinary group of engineering students who design, build and race Formula One-style cars in a number of competitions every year.
Penny with fellow placement students Mike Marsden (left) and Jason Lin in an event space on the Red Bull Racing Technology Campus celebrating team driver Max Verstappen’s fourth Formula One championship
“At first, it was a lot of shadowing people and learning,” she says.
“Then I got to do more behind-the-scenes work, like helping with project management and sponsorships. Then I got the chance to work on powertrain and engine system and learn from some of the older, more experienced students. And then I became the team’s powertrain lead.
“That’s one of the great things about Ravens Racing: you get an opportunity try a whole bunch of different things before choosing what to zoom in on. It’s a very collaborative environment in which you learn to work as a team. That skill that transfers well to professional work environments like what I’m experiencing at Red Bull Racing.”
The Ravens Racing team’s main goal, she adds, is to always be improving the car. Which reflects one of the overarching goals of engineering — to continuously design more effective and efficient systems and machines.
“Leah is a superstar,” says Ed Cyr, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at Carleton and one of the faculty supervisors for Ravens Racing.
“Even as a second- and third-year student, she was teaching fourth-year students about engine tuning and engine design. She is incredibly knowledgeable and very thoughtful and has had a tremendous impact on our team.”
Welcoming Toward Women
Auto racing has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years. Fuelled by social media, video games and shows such as Formula 1: Drive to Survive, the sport is attracting new audiences, largely women, who now comprise about 40 per cent of the fan base, up from less than 10 per cent a decade ago.
Women remain underrepresented within the sport — and within engineering — but Penny hasn’t experienced any discrimination in either domain.
“Everybody has been very welcoming,” she says, “and companies like Red Bull Racing are working hard to diversify and create good environments for women and minorities. The culture and environment are changing.”
Beyond her work in the U.K., Penny has enjoyed her time overseas, meeting other co-op students from around the world and visiting a half a dozen different European countries during weekends and holidays.
And while she’s not sure exactly what her plans are when she graduates from Carleton, she says that racing will definitely be part of her future.
First wide image by ZRyzner / iStock
Second wide image by Jonathan Borba / Pexels
Third wide image by Jonathan Borba / Pexels
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 in Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Design
Share: Twitter, Facebook
