F1 in Schools 2009: Ireland victorious, Australia sweeps multiple awards

Irish team the Koni Kats have been crowned 2009 F1 in Schools World Champions at the award ceremony held at the Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre in London. The Australian team Redline Racing has taken second, with the Australian-Canadian collaboration team AC Racing awarded third.

The Koni Kats (Ireland, First), Redline Racing (Australia, Second) and AC Racing (Australia/Canada, Third)

The two Aussie place-getters, Redline Racing, AC Racing

The evening was quite the spectacle, with F1 team bosses and technical directors making appearances along side current Formula One world drivers champion Lewis Hamilton

Redline Racing with Lewis Hamilton

 

Lewis signing the Redline Car

Redline Racing with Williams F1 technical director Sam Michael, who prior to being in charge of engineering at Williams lived and was educated in Australia, attending Radford College in Canberra and UNSW.

 

Myself with Sam Michael, he is a bit of a personal hero as a Canberra educated Engineer working as a leader in Formula One.

  

Lewis knows how to draw a crowd as he prepares to test one of the cars (he ended up hand picking the AC Racing entry). Redbull Racing technical director Christian Horner also made an appearance, as did representatives of Force India F1 with the ceremony hosted by ITV motorsport commentator James Allen (with BBC commentator Ted Kravitz still making rounds). All of the F1 celebrities were fantastic to meet, all being enthusiastic to talk to each of the teams.

Whilst disappointed not to take the top prize which included a University scholarship, the Australian teams were happy to claim multiple team awards as well as 2 of the top 3 places Each of the three Australian teams took away at least one team award, with Redline Racing awarded the Fastest Car award (and with it the England v. Australia Ashes!), and team Biohazard from Sydney being awarded best display booth.

The complete Australian related results are has follows:

• 2nd Outright – Redline Racing (Canberra)
• 3rd Outright – AC Racing (Noosa/Canada Collaboration)
• 4th Outright – Bio-Hazard (Sydney)
• Fastest Car – Redline Racing
• Best Collaboration Team – AC Racing
• Best Design Portfolio – AC Racing
• Best Pit Display – Bio-Hazard
• Australia v. England Ashes for fastest car – Redline Racing

Complete results to follow.

Congratulations to the winners and all the teams that competed in this years F1 in Schools, from International to regional competitions.

F1 in Schools 2009

Attempted journalism style post imminent… I will update this blog within the next few hours with the final results.

F1 in Schools – 2009 World Championships

The 2009 F1 in Schools World Championships held at the Royal Horticultural Hall and Conference Centre is drawing to a close!

The Redline Racing Team, from Canberra, Australia performed extremely well throughout the competition, taking out the outright quickest car and making it through to the quarter finals of the knock out reaction round, where the cars are triggered by a member of the team, in an Formula One style light guided start.

The team was also assessed on verbal presentation of their design along with marketing materials, industry collaboration, sponsorship and research. The team was also required to produce a team booth and design portfolio as well as an engineering assessment of the car design itself. The team was confident of their performance, despite a few mishaps, such someone who had become lost walking into and interrupting their verbal presentation and a couple of disordered cue-cards.

The Redline Racing Team (left to right): Annie Harper, James Mazengarb, Alistair Smith, Chris Law and Daniel Boucher with BBC Formula One commentator Ted Kravitz.

The Redline Racing Team claiming the F1 in Schools “Ashes” after leading all Australian and English schools through the speed trials. Head of F1 in Schools Australia and the Re-engineering Australia founder Michael Myers on the far left.

 

View Full Album

A selection of some of the team display booths

More to come…

The Competition Begins

The 2009 F1 schools kicked off on Tuesday (15 September) at the Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre in Westminster, London. This, off course was the spark for this whole journey, as my brother is a member of the Redline Racing Team, representing Australia (see below for a picture of the team at Australia House).

 

The competition as drawn 31 teams, representing 17 countries (many more are represented by individual students), with each team bringing a unique approach to the competition, their displays and the designs of their cars. The make up of the teams were equally diverse, with teams representing each continent, some teams consisted of hybrid, collaboration teams, such as partnerships between Australia and Canada, and combinations of Scotland, China, the United States, Germany and South Africa.

At the end of the first complete day of racing, Redline Racing were well placed. Originally running in second the team were elevated into first place after the previous leader was penalised for having a car that did not meet weight requirements. Each of the teams are assessed on the speed of their car, as well as verbal presentations and the quality of their display booths, with approximately equal weighting. With the fastest car on the track, the team refocused on the presentation of their team and design with a welcomed confidence boost.

The competition continues for the following three days, with the conclusion on Thursday 17 September corresponding with a visit from current Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton!