Mini F1 cars in school challenge

[Wizzo]

Students across Australia are preparing to compete in the National Formula One Schools Championship where teams of three to six students' race cars they've designed using world standard engineering technology on a 20 metre track.

Winners from the Australian final held on the Sunshine Coast on the 6th of December will represent Australia in the 2008 world finals in Malaysia.

The F1 competition gives students first hand experience of manufacturing and design engineering and is seen as the key ingredient to inspire young people to pursue engineering or manufacturing related careers.

Students construct their F1 car of the future from a block of balsa wood, and power it by using a CO2 (carbon dioxide) gas canister; the car that records the fastest time taking the chequered flag to victory.

Students are helped by using computer aided design, computer aided manufacture and virtual reality software.

Aside from the on-track action, teams also produce supporting evidence of their design; develop a sponsorship and marketing campaign as well as develop team merchandise, with all these elements presented with their race car at the regional finals.

REA (Re-Engineering Australia) Forum's Queensland Manager Alana Baird says more than 100 students from 16 public and private high schools from the states and territories are expected at the finals.

"REA Forum has provided schools with three-dimensional CAD/CAM/CAE software called CATIA valued at millions of dollars. It is the same software being used by thousands of professional engineers around the world.

"We combine it with Virtual Wind Tunnel software, a classroom-sized CNC machine and smoke and wind tunnels, and a computerised 20-metre race track. The students have been using this technology to design, test and develop their own powered F1 racers which reach speeds of 100 kilometres per hour."

The teams will be judged by professional engineers and Australian Defence Force personnel across 11 categories including car design, understanding of engineering dynamics, technical portfolio, verbal presentation, use of collaboration technology, liaising with industry, and car speed.

The newly crowned national champions to be announced on December 6th will be sent all expenses paid to the Malaysian Grand Prix.

[Steven Roy]

This competition has been running for a few years and every now and then some F1 journalist takes an interest in it.  They did a 5 minute piece on it on the ITV GP show at the start of the season.  Maybe Melbourne.  Those little cars fly down the track at incredible speeds.

I have a feeling ITV had Mike Gascoyne talking about the design of them and the detail they go into is incredible.  Every aspect of racing is covered from CAD and aero to sponsorship and media.  School sounds a lot more fun than I remember it.

[cosworth151]

I got to see the cars run at Indy last year. They had the track set up in one of the Pagoda Plaza Chalets. It was fun to watch and the kids seemed to be having a blast. It seems like a great way to build a fan base.