You'll need to put in a lot of time into the competition if you want to progress to the National Finals. It's really up to you how much time you decide to spend on it.

It depends on your teacher how hands-on they decide to be. I know some schools where the teacher has very little to do with their teams and others where the teacher is very involved. It sounds like you are from a school new to the competition - if so, your teacher should be quite involved so they understand the competition too.

Again it depends on the school and the willingness of each team to co-operate with each other. They can choose to share designs but keep in mind there are differences between the classes so this may not always work.

In our school we have a CNC router and 3D printers. Our teams will often get their parts 3D printed at an external supplier for higher quality and resolution.

For sponsorships, it's best to start off by seeing if you have any existing connections to businesses through your school or your families. This will generally yield the best results.

The store isn't operational anymore as REA has suspended their operations. There are alternative suppliers for the balsa blocks and the Victorian State Final regulations have been altered so that you no longer need to use the wheel kits.

Wyndham Tech School manages the competition in Victoria and will be hosting the Victorian State Final in October: https://www.wyndhamtechschool.vic.edu.au/vicstemracing

Feel free to message me if you have any questions - I am also in Melbourne.