F1 in Schools, an Education Partner of the IET, runs a challenge which requires teams of schoolchildren to design, manufacture and race their own model F1 car. Competitors follow processes used by real Formula One teams, including Computer Aided Design (CAD), and wind and smoke tunnel testing.
During the Cyprus National Final, held on 24-25 March 2018 at The English School, winning teams from regional finals exhibited and raced their cars. Alkis Spyrou, a member of the IET Cyprus Local Network said...
“Our local network wanted to support the competition because we felt it’s very important to engage people from a young age in engineering. And what better way than giving them hands-on experience through this project?”
Linking local network and education activities
As an IET Council member, Alkis first encountered the F1 in Schools Challenge on a visit to IET London: Savoy Place. He is also an IET School Liaison Officer for Cyprus, so wanted to link up his local network activities with education initiatives for 5-19 year olds.
“Since last year, we’ve had an ongoing – and growing – relationship with the organisers of F1 in Schools,” explained Alkis. “When we first tried to get involved, the national competition had already taken place. So we supported the winning team’s trip to Malaysia for the global final. This year we’ve taken on a more active role, as main sponsors of the national final in Cyprus.”
Being part of the National Final
Local network members were involved in the organisation of the final, including printing t-shirts for the competition. They also supported activities on the day, with local network Chair Marios Agrotis awarding prizes at the ceremony which concluded the final.
“Teams entered their cars in preliminary races on the first day, and final races on the second day,” said Alkis. “In parallel with the races, there was an exhibition, where teams provided details on how they had gone about designing and manufacturing their cars.”
The team Slipstream finished first place and will go on to compete in the global finals in Singapore. Alkis indicated that he and other local network members got a lot from being there to see the teams in action. “I was impressed by how capable the competitors were,” he said:
“You could see the evolution of the teams throughout the competition, and how much they were engaging with and enjoying engineering. Whatever they’d been learning in their classes – design and technology, physics, maths – they were applying to this project.”
A future with F1 in Schools
Pleased with “how everything fell into place” this year, Alkis has plenty of ideas in terms of how his local network could be even more involved next year. “We hope to be more even more active, for example by joining the judging panel or providing technical assistance to teams,” said Alkis. “We all thoroughly enjoyed it and we’re looking forward to next year, which I’m sure will be even better than this year.”
Interested in supporting an engineering education initiative?
There are many – including several run by the IET – that you or your local network could get involved in!
Find out more below:
There are many – including several run by the IET – that you or your local network could get involved in!
Find out more below: