The final day of judging at the F1 in Schools World Finals 2013 produced thrills, spills and plenty of racing action with the Pressure Challenge Test and Knock-out racing competition rounding off a packed schedule of activity in this prestigious global educational initiative.

There was plenty of tension and drama in the Pressure Challenge, a test of the students’ abilities to cope with the unexpected, working under tight time constraints and limited resources. They were set the task of producing a 60 second news video feature suitable for broadcast on a USA TV news programme, all within the space of 90 minutes.

Every team took up the challenge and quickly set up tripods, cameras, phones and laptops to capture and edit footage for their own news broadcast about F1 in Schools World Finals 2013. With 38 teams from 22 countries producing their news edits, the content showcased the breadth of tasks the students completed in the competition and their skills at delivering a high quality solution to a problem, within a tight deadline and with just a few tools at their disposal.

This afternoon the knock-out racing brought out the competitive spirit in all the students, with each of the teams putting forward the best team member to launch their car down the 20 metre F1 in Schools race track. The teams battled it out with the losing team eliminated in each round. After two hours of racing action two teams took to the grid to decide the winner. Team Bolt, a team of students from New Delhi, India took on X-Shift, a collaboration team from Singapore and UK, in a tense final. In a thrilling race, it was the Indian team who took the chequered flag first, just three one-hundredths of a second ahead of their rivals.

“We’re on top of the world”, said Aman Agarwal, the car launcher for Team Bolt. “It feels really good to have beaten everyone and I’m amazed. We are quite superstitious and have to follow a ritual which worked at the regional and national finals, so we had to do it here, it includes having a drink and rubbing my hands on the carpet before I race, and it worked here again for me. I’m just spellbound with this achievement.”

The F1 in Schools World Finals 2013 concludes tomorrow with an Awards Celebration dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Austin, the location for this week’s event. 

F1 in Schools challenges students to create their own Formula One team which is commissioned to design, manufacture  and race the fastest miniature Formula One Car of the Future; a 21cm long scale model designed using 3D solid modelling software and machined from a block of balsa wood, incorporating 3D print technology in its front and rear wings.  At the World Finals each team will bring along a pit display, their cars and portfolio, as well as having prepared a verbal presentation for the judges. The cars race on a 20 metre track, with the cars covering the distance in just over one second, a speed barrier which is yet to be broken by any student team since it was set by Team FUGA from Northern Ireland at the 2007 World Finals with a time of 1.020 seconds.

F1 in Schools aims to help change perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in engineering, Formula One, Science, marketing and technology. 

 The F1 in Schools World Finals 2013 take place with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters including Circuit of The Americas, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, City University London, Autodesk and Austin Independent Schools District.