School teams from St John’s College Cardiff, Cardiff, YGG Bro Edern, Cardiff and Cynffig Comprehensive School, Bridgend took top honours in the Wales Regional Finals of the acclaimed F1 in Schools STEM Challenge, earning them each a place at the National Finals that will be held at Autosport International Show, NEC, Birmingham in January next year.
Team Firestorm from St John’s College were crowned Reginal Champions in the Professional Class, and won Best Engineered Car and Fastest Car Awards. Sister teams from the school, Red Dawn Racing and Team Xtreme, were placed first and second in the Development Class. Imperium from YGG Bro Edern were placed second in the Professional Class and won the Team Identity Award, with sister team from the school, Team Tanwen, in third place, and won the Portfolio Award. Horse Force from Cynffig Comprehensive School were placed third in the Development Class
Winning at National level will bring the teams the opportunity to represent their country at the World Finals, to be held alongside an international Formula 1 Grand Prix. In addition, the F1 in Schools UK Champions will receive UCL Engineering bursaries to the value of £5000, a trip to the British Grand Prix with an exclusive paddock tour, and the UK Champions trophy.
The teams developed their race car design, engineering and R & D and documented it in an engineering portfolio for the judges. They showcased the marketing and sponsorship that they had used to create their team and produce their F1 in Schools race car in an enterprise document, also judged by an expert panel from industry and education.
The judges’ assessments of their written portfolios, verbal presentations, engineering drawings and designs produced high marks for the team. Their cars raced along the Official F1 in Schools 20 metres track with lightning speed too.
Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools praised the Regional Finals winning teams, saying, “It is great to see hard work, innovative design and passion for learning being recognised in the F1 in Schools STEM challenge. Bringing STEM to life and inspiring students to expand their curriculum learning through the competition is the essence of F1 in Schools. We’ve seen so much dedication and commitment from the students, they really embrace the challenge and prove their will to succeed. We look forward to seeing our winners at Autosport International early next year.”
The competition is a showcase of the talents of the regions’ students with outstanding professionalism and the highest standards of work that encompass Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, as well as the life skills that are in such demand by industry.
