16 Dezember 2011 Von: f1inschools, UK

Visitors to Red Bull Racing’s Celebration event in Milton Keynes last weekend not only had the chance to watch the Formula 1™ World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, light up his tyres in the city centre as he and team mate Mark Webber celebrated the team’s success with demonstration runs on the streets of the city, they could also race a Formula 1 car of the future in the town’s shopping centre.

F1 in Schools™, the Formula One Technology Challenge, linked with Red Bull Racing and Milton Keynes Council to showcase this global educational initiative in the Shopping Centre and gave shoppers the opportunity to learn more about this student programme which challenges 9-19 year olds to design, build, test and race a miniature scale-model Formula 1 car of the future.

This prestigious competition has the support of the Formula One community and Bernie Ecclestone, who donated the Bernie Ecclestone World Champions trophy and with a prize of a University scholarship alongside the trophy for the World Champions, it is a fiercely contested initiative which attracts the highest calibre of students achieving significant engineering excellence with the their F1 model cars.

Saturday’s event in Milton Keynes attracted thousands of interested schoolchildren and their parents. It gave them an insight into the excitement and fun which many students have experienced through their involvement in F1 in Schools, as well as having the opportunity to test their reaction times racing example F1 in Schools cars on the demonstration track.

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools, said of the event, “Taking the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge into the Milton Keynes shopping centre, on the same day that Red Bull Racing held their special celebrations exposed the programme to over 60,000 people congregating in the city for a rare opportunity to see the championship-winning team up close in their home town. The Challenge was very popular with young and old alike and I have no doubt that we will be seeing more schools in the area introducing the programme in the coming months.”

“The appetite for Formula 1 is insatiable and our programme brings students closer to the sport, while also putting into practice many key areas of learning. We know that the programme can improve the skills of students, whether this is within specific academic subjects or the life and social skills needed for a successful career. We’re now seeing F1 in Schools participants enter F1 and other engineering sectors, either in full-time employment or work placements, as a direct result of their involvement in the programme. It is a very rewarding initiative for the students and we hope that being able to share the programme with the visitors to Milton Keynes on Saturday will encourage even more schools to become involved.”

F1 in Schools aims to help change perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about future careers. Students are given a brief to design a model compressed air powered F1 Car of the future using CAD/CAM. Cars are then manufactured on a CNC machine. Each team of between three and six students, brings together their work to present to a judging panel with a verbal and
written presentation to support their model car, which is raced on a specially designed test track. Students can register to participate at www.f1inschools.co.uk.