F1 in Schools STEM Challenge: Bishop's Stortford High School team races to victory in regional final to earn place in national final at Autosport International show at NEC
Students from The Bishop's Stortford High School raced to victory with their design for a scale-model Formula 1 car.
The team of eight won the London North regional final of the F1 in Schools STEM Challenge, earning them a place in the national final at the four-day Autosport International show at the NEC in Birmingham in mid-January.
The competition – with three classes: entry, development and professional – challenges students to prepare business plans, design, analyse, make, test and race a model car.
The TBSHS competitors, Mitre Racing, were second in the professional class and won the best engineered car and fastest car awards with top three placings in five out of seven categories.
That means they are in the running to progress to the world finals, to be held alongside an international F1 grand prix. In addition, the F1 in Schools UK champions will receive UCL engineering bursaries worth £5,000, a trip to the British Grand Prix with an exclusive paddock tour, and the UK champions trophy.
Declan Corr, William Worthy, Anish Armani, James Petty, Tom White and Klary Rikhotso were sixth-formers when the project began and left the London Road secondary in the summer.
David Hows, subject leader for physics, said the group, which also included current Year 11 boys Harrison Rowe and Rhys Sacco, had to raise hundreds of pounds through sponsorship to realise their racing dream against around 20 other teams.
"Most teams were from schools that have competed before; most teams work in collaboration with a teacher," said Mr Hows. "This was the first time a team entered from The Bishop's Stortford High School and the students were completely responsible for every aspect of their submission."
Andrew Denford, founder and chairman of F1 in Schools, said: "It's great to see hard work, innovative design and passion for learning being recognised in the F1 in Schools STEM challenge.
"Bringing STEM to life and inspiring students to expand their curriculum learning through the competition is the essence of F1 in Schools. We've seen so much dedication and commitment from the students, they really embrace the challenge and prove their will to succeed."
* STEM stands for science, maths, engineering and technology.