A team of students from Sprowston Community High School, Norwich, have raced to victory at the F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2013, winning a place at the F1 in Schools World Finals 2013 to be staged in Austin, Texas, alongside the 2013 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
The F1 in Schools UK Champions also receive tickets to the 2013 FORMULA 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a Red Bull Racing F1 team factory tour and a TW STEEL Watch for each team member. The National Champions’ school, Sprowston Community High School, wins a Denford 3 Axis CNC Router, a prize worth over £10,000.
The Red Set Racing team – Ryan Clabon, 17, Tom Carver, 16, and Will Mulhall, 16 – took up the challenge of designing, manufacturing, testing and racing their own design of a Formula One car of the future. They were given chassis development advice from the F1 experts and from this, along with many hours of research and development, created their winning race car.
After two days of intense competition, Red Set Racing was not only crowned F1 in Schools UK National Champions 2013 but also took the Fastest Car Award, with their car racing along the F1 in Schools 20 metres race track in a time of 1.125 seconds. In second place was a team of students from St. John Payne High School, Tempest, and this team also won the Best Engineered Car Award. The third placed team was Red Shift F1 from Wilmington Grammar School, Dartford. Tempest and Red Shift F1 are invited to form a collaboration team, linking with National Finals runner-up teams from other countries for the F1 in Schools World Finals 2013. The Best Rookie Team Award was presented to newcomers, Quantum Racing, from The Crypt School, Gloucester.
Andrew Denford, founder and chairman, F1 in Schools, said: “After two days of judging and racing for the 30 teams, it all came down to the wire and we crowned our F1 in Schools UK Champions 2013. The judges were given a massive challenge by the outstanding work of these teams, with so much effort, passion, creativity and skill put into producing some of the most innovative designs of F1 in Schools scale-model Formula One cars of the future. It was also fantastic to see carbon fibre being used for the first time in F1 in Schools.“
F1 in Schools challenges students to create their own Formula One team which is commissioned to design, construct and race the fastest miniature Formula One Car of the Future; a 21cm long scale model built from a block of balsa wood and powered by a compressed air cylinder. Each team of between three and six students creates a ‘pit’ display and showcases their work in developing their race car, with a verbal and written presentation for the judges. The teams then race their model car on a specially designed 20m test track, with the cars covering the distance in just over one second.
The F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2013 took place with the support of The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Silverstone Circuit, Autodesk, Tomorrow’s Engineers and City University, London.
