F1 IN SCHOOLS - TEAM MEMPHIS SWEEP THE BOARD USING CARTER CERAMIC BEARINGS

The day was also a great success for the new F1 Team Flare also from St. Dunstan’s Community School and consisting of 6 year 9 pupils who also swept up the most prestigious prizes, taking both the fastest Bloodhound car at 0.734 seconds over the 20m race track and again winning the Overall Bloodhound category prize and the chance to compete at National Level.

These results are a superb success for St. Dunstan’s who have the rare opportunity of taking not just 1 but 2 teams to the National final and so having 2 chances at winning and carrying on to International success. Lewis Hamilton attended the recent F1 in schools International Final which was held in London this year (Singapore next year) and was very impressed with the standard of work he saw. He stayed on so he could personally meet every student taking part and is quoted as saying he wished he had the chance to take part in this competition when he was at school and how he thought some of the current students could one day be working alongside him on the design and engineering of F1 cars.

The F1 in Schools competition involves over 30 countries worldwide who take part in this exciting competition which was started 10 years ago and now involves over 9 million students worldwide competing to design, analyse and make the F1 car of the future!

This competition involves the design and making of a balsa wood car in 1 of 2 categories. The F1 category has very strict guidelines and tolerances just like F1 and so encourages precise design, analysis and engineering. The Bloodhound category is new this year due to the sponsorship and links forged with the UK Bloodhound Super Sonic Car attempt. This is The UK’s attempt to break the 1000mph barrier and continue the last 26 years of success as the holders of the Land speed record. To compliment this rules for the Bloodhound F1 cars have been greatly relaxed in comparison to previous years and so the 1 second barrier has now been broken! Team Flare are right at the cutting edge with only a couple of cars that have ever gone under 0.735 seconds and this was all done in a bit of a hurry as the team started only in the 2 weeks before the Final!

The F1 Cars are propelled using a pressurised Co2 Cartridge. The cartridge is placed in the back of the back of the cars and they race side by side along a 20metre long special track. Cars are travelling up to 60kph which are scale speeds of up to 220mph! The previous world champions and world record holders are from the United Kingdom, the current Champions are from Ireland so Team Memphis hopes to carry on this great United Kingdom tradition!

Team Memphis consists of Jessica Betts, Oisin O’Leary Crawford, Tasmin Mason, Nicky Vincent and Jason Biddlecombe and David Fouracres. Team Flare consists of Hannah Gane, Luke Thomas, Danny Chant, Joe Walsh, Stephanie Bates and Molly Proud. Both teams have been very busy over the last few months putting the final touches to their Balsa wood F1 Car. They have also prepared a 20 page A3 Portfolio of Evidence which is almost a mini GCSE Project by itself!

These pupils have been attending an after school Science and Engineering extension class, run by their teachers, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Richardson. It was through this class their love of engineering was discovered and they decided to take on this technical challenge.

The pupils use Computer aided design programs (CAD) to design and test their cars. They also use virtual wind tunnel simulators so pupils can test the aerodynamic capabilities of their cars prior to manufacturing them. Once ready their designs are cut out using computer aided manufacturing (CAM) St. Dunstan’s has purchased special software, jigs and cutters to allow them to produce their designs on a computer controlled MicroRouter to very high tolerances. Pupils then finish their designs by spray painting them and adding their logos.

Team Memphis was proud to receive sponsorship from a number of local and National Firms including Clarks, Carter Bearings, Trig Engineering who are part of the Ensinger Group, Avalon tyres, General Dynamics, Jual, MJB Logistics and most importantly Stuart Betts-Williams for his assistance in purchasing the full F1 track for the School.

We hope everyone will have their fingers crossed for them on the 16th and 17th of January when they race in the National Final at the NEC in Birmingham when they go head to head with pupils from other schools around the country to see ho will have the opportunity to race at the International in Singapore!