BETAGREEN, a team of students from Grootmoor Gymnasium, Hamburg, celebrated after being announced runners-up in the 2011 F1 in Schools™ World Finals held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this week. The all-boys team also won the Best Research and Development Award with judges noting the quality of the R & D programme they used for the development of their whole car and especially the front wing.

Arved Bruns, Fabian Bode, Johannes Rohwer and Niklas Hagenow formed BETAGREEN to compete in the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge in Germany. Winning through Regional Finals in their home country, they then won the German F1 in Schools National title, to secure a place at the World Finals.

BETAGREEN Team Manager, Arved Bruns, reflects on the competition, “I can’t believe how close we were to winning. We missed out on the World Champions title by just 3.2 points; this competition is so competitive. Pentagliders’ car was also very, very good, so we lost out to an excellent team and our congratulations to them. For us, we will enjoy being second in the World at the 2011 F1 in Schools World Finals, and celebrate winning the Best Research and Development Award. Achieving so much is an excellent reward for all the hard work that we put into our entry and we value the learning opportunity and the fun we have had taking part in F1 in Schools.”

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools, says of the team’s success, “This year’s F1 in Schools World Finals has been the most competitive in the history of the programme. The top teams were just a few marks apart, and I think BETAGREEN should be very proud of the success they have achieved. As ambassadors for their country and of F1 in Schools, they are excellent and demonstrate just how beneficial it can be to compete in the Challenge. I’m sure they will all go on to have further success in their careers ahead.”

The Australian team, Pentagliders, were crowned 2011 F1 in Schools World Champions at yesterday’s Awards Ceremony. They fought off intense competition, beating 22 teams from Australasia, Europe, Asia, Africa, America and the Middle East to take the title, the Bernie Ecclestone World Champions trophy and coveted Automotive and Motorsport Engineering degree scholarships at City University London. Last year’s World Champions, the USA team, UNITUS Racing from South East High School, Florida and James Madison Middle School, Virginia, took third place on the podium.

The event took place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 19th – 21st September with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters including the Malaysian Ministry of Education, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, City University London, Denford Limited, Sepang International Circuit and Hilton Racing.

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. At the World Finals each team takes along a pit display, three identical cars and portfolio, as well as having prepared a 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.