One step closer
Girls make UK finals
Two all-girl teams of high school pupils are one step closer to the finals of a prestigious engineering competition in Singapore.
Velocity Racing, a team of students from Inveralmond Community High School and Accelerace from Linlithgow Academy, have triumphed at the Scotland Formula 1 in Schools STEM Challenge Regional Final.
Their success has secured them a place at the UK National Finals to be held on March 19 and 20 at the famous Silverstone race circuit in Northamptonshire.
Winning at National level will bring Velocity Racing and Accelerace the opportunity to represent their country at the World Finals. In addition, the F1 in Schools UK Champions and runners up will receive tickets to the 2018 Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The prestigious F1 in Schools STEM Challenge that runs in 45 countries is staging 11 regional finals events with Inveralmond Community High School hosting the Scotland region event.
The competition, with three classes – entry, development and professional – challenges students to design, develop, manufacture and race a scale model Formula 1 race car.
After a long day of competition with students presenting their work to a panel of judges, Velocity Racing were placed second in the Professional Class to book their place at Silverstone. The team also won the Best Engineered Car Award. Accelerace were second in the Development Class to win through to the National Finals.
Megan Cleaver from Velocity Racing said:“We didn’t expect to reach the podium today. We’re really pleased to have achieved this. We have a lot of work to do for the National Finals, improving our car and making it lighter, making our pit display better and lots more.
“We were happy with our portfolio and our verbal presentation, so that was good. We’re excited to be going to Silverstone.”
Louise Patterson, team manager of Accelerace, added:“It was the first time that our school has entered this competition, so we’re very surprised to have won a place at the National Finals.
“We have a lot of work to be done on our pit display, car and also sponsorship. We can’t wait to go to Silverstone.”
Andrew Denford, founder and chairman of F1 in Schools said:“There has been great work on display at today’s event and the students have all shown how a practical challenge can bring alive classroom learning and inspire them to prove themselves.
“It’s been tough for the judges with so much good work as all the teams put in strong performances with some great ideas and innovative designs.
“We love being able to harness young Engineering, marketing and leadership talent and open their eyes to the myriad of career choices available to them. We look forward to seeing our winners at Silverstone in March.”
The Regional Finals take place with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters. Amongst these are the IET, Autodesk, Denford Ltd, Airbus, City, University of London and UCL Engineering.