For the second year running, the Region is sponsoring a team to take part in the F1 Schools World Finals - this year taking place in Kuala Lumpa. The winners of the National Finals were Team Falcon from Brynrefail School near Caernafon - and we are delighted to help support their efforts in the finals. The girls will provide feedback when they return at the end of September, but here is their story so far.
We are an all-girls team of 6, with a passion for Science and Design and Technology. This is our 2nd year of competing as we entered the Rookie Class last year, where we placed 1st Overall in North Wales, with the fastest car and best engineered car awards. This allowed us to proceed to the UK National Finals and after a tough competition we placed 4th overall with the best engineered car and best use of CAD (Computer-Aided Design). After receiving new and unique experiences through the competition, we decided to compete again this year however we moved up to the Professional Class.
Balancing our GCSE's and F1 in Schools proved quite challenging, but by starting early in the summer 2016 we were able to complete all aspects of the competition on time. The idea is to design and race a model Formula 1 car against other teams. Alongside this you need to produce two portfolios (enterprise and design + engineering), a pit display and a verbal presentation to explain the process. We were placed 2nd in this year's Regionals with the Innovative Thinking and Best Team Identity Award. This secured our place in the UK National Finals again this year. There we received the honour of representing Wales in the F1 in Schools World Finals held in Malaysia at the end of the month.
Next week, we'll be flying out to Kuala Lumpur for the competition on 21/9 for 11 days. The F1 in Schools competition runs for 3 days, however they have also arranged scheduled activities throughout the week to help us gain more knowledge in the world of engineering, such as a pit walk around the Malaysian F1 Track. There will also be a gala dinner to present the awards and we're fortunate enough to be able to go and watch the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday 1/10. The competition will provide us with an unforgettable experience and the skills we learn will help us in the future.