Five Victorian high school teams are off to the F1 in Schools National Australian competition after being crowned state champions at the Victorian finals hosted at Engineers Australia’s Melbourne office earlier this month.
The F1 in Schools Program is a global Formula 1 model car race competition for high school students, creating a fun and exciting way to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
Students must form teams to collaborate, design, analyse, manufacture, test, and race miniature compressed air powered balsa wood F1 cars.
The competition not only involves racing the cars, but includes marketing, business and sponsorship elements, with teams presenting their entire portfolio to a panel of judges.
The Victorian State Finals were held on 15 – 16 November, with 22 teams competing over three different competency levels; Cadet, Development and Professional.
Engineers Australia’s Division Manager of Victoria, Herve Carlos and Victorian State Final Verbal Presentation Judge said the students must act as a real-life F1 team.
“Students showed an appreciation for the many and varied aspects of Formula 1 racing," Mr Carlos said.
“Their passion and attention to detail was exemplary.
“Exposing high school students to real life applications of STEM in a fun and creative environment has proven to be successful in inspiring tomorrow’s engineers.”
F1 in Schools Victoria State Final Results
Champions:
Professional Class: Fast Forward, Phoenix P-12 Community College, Sebastopol
Development Class: Techno Drift, Phoenix P-12 Community College, Sebastopol
Cadet Class: Light Speed, Eltham College
Wildcard Invitations:
Professional Class: Rapid Progress, Eltham College
Development Class: Anonymous: CRC North Keilor
Development Class: Apex Predator Racing: Brighton Grammar School
Fast Forward and Techno Drift are automatically entered into the National competition that will take place in South Australia in February 2017.
As wildcards, Anonymous, and Apex Predator, and Rapid Progress are invited to enter the national competition.
Re-Engineering Australia Foundation (REA), a not-for-profit organisation leading applied learning STEM education, manages the F1 in Schools Program in Australia and New Zealand.
The program engages more than 40,000 high students in Australia, delivering industry-standard technology into schools.
Students as young as 10 design, test and make miniature F1 cars capable of 80km/h.
"Engineers Australia wishes the teams good luck at the national finals next year and thank REA for hosting such a great interactive program," Mr Carlos said.
For further information on the competition, visit the REA Foundation website.
Image: The F1 in Schools race track at the Victorian state finals.