Thursday, Aug 02, 2012

Abu Dhabi: The eighth F1 in Schools World Finals will be held in Abu Dhabi from October 29 to 31, as part of the build-up to November’s Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

More than 250 students from around the world will have secured a place at the F1 in Schools event by winning their national finals in their home countries.

Yas Marina Circuit and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will be the destination for the competitors. Previous years’ events held in Australia, England, Malaysia and Singapore have all been hailed as resounding successes.

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman of F1 in Schools, said: “Yas Marina Circuit and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi will together be the focus for our eighth F1 in Schools World Finals event. Having Ferrari World Abu Dhabi hosting our World Finals is already creating incredible excitement and anticipation for the participating teams.”

The F1 in Schools World Finals 2012 will be held over the course of three days, with the teams competing for the prestigious Bernie Ecclestone World Champions trophy and coveted automotive and motorsport engineering scholarships to City University, London.

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.

Students are given a brief to design a model compressed air-powered F1 Car of the future using CAD/CAM engineering techniques. Cars are then manufactured on a CNC machine. Each team of between three and six students brings together their portfolio of 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 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, 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.

Staff Report

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