Sixth Form Design Technology Engineering (DTE) students are through to the National Final of the ‘F1 in Schools’ competition for the third consecutive year! Nova Racing’s Molly Greene, Charles Godsell, Ewan Murdoch, Libby Ramply, Joseph Stokes and Hannah Sullivan won the regional event at Norwich on 31 January and will now represent East Anglia at the Final in Bristol on 1 April. They also picked up the ‘Best Engineered Car’ award.

Kimbolton’s two teams, Nova Racing and Ventus Motorsports put in a huge amount of work to reach what was the largest regional final this year - with 26 school teams in competition. All of our students impressed the judges with the quality of their design and engineering work. Their success follows that of Team Odyssey (2019), and Team Storm (2018) - who went on to win the award for ‘Best Engineered Car’ in the Development Class at the National Final in Silverstone that year. 

The F1 in Schools challenge involves teams from schools across the UK, and runs internationally in over 40 countries around the world. The competition involves computer aided 3-D design (CAD/CAM software), testing, engineering, manufacture and racing of miniature compressed air-powered balsa wood F1 cars. Teams must also raise sponsorship and manage budgets to fund their research, travel and accommodation.

Head of DTE, Mr Kevin Spencer, said: "This competition is a great opportunity for our students to learn about STEM-related subjects in an exciting way, and it forms part of Kimbolton's ‘7th Period Super-Curriculum’. These are enrichment sessions which offer our A Level students wider academic opportunities and the chance to create something interesting, different and eye-catching for their portfolios. The whole experience has the potential to give our students a huge head start in the world of design and engineering."

DTE at Kimbolton