Two awards for F1 kids at finals
Kinetikos stars miss out on global title in the USA
Inveralmond Community High Schools’ Formula One stars have missed out on becoming World Champions.
But the team of S5 pupils, known as Kinetikos Racing, won two prestigious prizes for their efforts at the F1 in Schools Finals in Austin, Texas, USA.
Euan Clune, Zak Brown, Michael Penman, Joshua Whitby, Kayleigh Speirs and Lewis Shaw were awarded for having the Best Pit Display of all the 39 teams.
That honour, supported by Scuderia Toro Rosso, was quickly followed by the Team Identity Award, sponsored by Ferrari.
Sadly they were defeated by ‘ Infinite Racing’ from Mandoulides School in Athens, Greece for the World Championship.
A statement from Kinetikos said: “Before anything else, we would like to take the time to give a sincerely heartfelt thanks to all of those who have helped us achieve what we have.
“Be it our partners, friends or family, teachers, or people we’ve met along the way. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.
“What an experience it has been from start to finish, meeting so many friends from around the globe and seeing all of the six months of preparation come to a finale. It has been an experience that none of us will ever forget.”
The team competed against schools from 23 countries where they were judged on their pit presentation, their car design and their verbal presentation skills.
They also had to race their 21cm car over a 20-metre track - an event in which they smashed their Scottish and UK speed record by 0.2 seconds.
On Thursday, October 20 they headed to Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) for a pit lane walk before attending the F1 US Grand Prix at the weekend.
During that visit they managed to meet up with British F1 star Lewis Hamilton, who signed their hats.
They managed to get themselves into his interview with a popular sports channel armed with goody bags for their awards win.
The pupils added: “Thanks to Scuderia Ferrari and Torro Rosso for the gift bags they provided along with our awards.”
West Lothian Council’s executive councillor for education, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, said: “The team put an enormous effort into this project and the awards given at the final competition show that their hard work and dedication really has paid off. On behalf of West Lothian Council, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the team.”