The UAE’s best young racers revved up their engines at Yas Marina Circuit on Monday for a shot at glory in the National Finals of the F1 in Schools – The Formula One STEM Challenge.
Designed to create excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM], the annual competition challenges students from all over the world to create their own Formula 1 team, which then designs, constructs and races scale model cars.
At Yas Marina Circuit, students from UAE schools met to test their mettle against each other, having set up their own Formula One teams with a full business plan.
Team 21m/s from Our Own High School in Al Warqa’a clocked the fastest time of the UAE finals day with 1.071 seconds, but it was not just the pace of the car that was being judged, all aspects were considered.
It meant that Team 21m/s from Our Own High School Al Warqa’a came out winners in the Professional Class, while ‘Team Vortex’ from GEMS Wellington International School were triumphant in the Rookie Class.
Both will now fly the flag for the UAE against hundreds of students from schools all over the world at next year’s Bernie Ecclestone F1 in Schools World Championship trophy, hosted in Singapore.
The teams at Yas Marina Circuit.
“Once again, we’ve been hugely impressed with the quality of the entrants, their enthusiasm for the F1 in Schools Program and their passion for learning about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through the excitement of Formula 1,” said Abdulla Al Shammari, Community Manager at Yas Marina Circuit.
“Yas Marina Circuit is proud to be supporting the strong spirit of innovation and discovery that is developing in UAE schools. We wish today’s winners every success at the World Championships in Singapore next year.”
The action took place on a 20-metre indoor track at Yas Marina Circuit. Propelled by carbon dioxide cartridges, the small balsa wood cars sped along the straight track at speeds of up to 80km/h.
Just like real F1 teams, the young engineers had to work within strict design and budgetary constraints to produce cars that are as powerful and aerodynamic as possible. They also marketed their projects, managed a budget, and tied up sponsorship deals.
F1 in Schools is a global multi-disciplinary challenge involving teams of students aged 9 to 19. The F1 in Schools World Finals 2016 was held at Austen, Texas last month, and saw Indian High School Dubai’s ‘Knighthawks’ walk off with the Best Engineered Car Award, placing sixth overall in the competition.
The competition aims to engage with school children and get them excited about the work of an F1 team so that they might go on to consider careers in different areas of the sport, particularly engineering.
