Five students from Magdalene Catholic College Narellan will go full throttle when they take to the race track next month for the national finals of the F1 in Schools competition.
The Year 12 team, who called themselves Edge Performance, hope to lead their school – and the Macarthur region – to glory at the fast paced Formula One inspired event in Melbourne during March 9-13.
F1 in Schools is a global education challenge that sees students design, build, test and race a miniature Formula 1 car capable of reaching speeds of 80km/h in less than one second down a 20 metre track.
But the students involved have to do much more than just design and build a miniature car that goes as fast as possible.
The students must also prepare a business plan, budget, raise sponsorship and give a verbal presentation before a panel of judges.
Edge Performance has enjoyed a bumper ride to the national finals after they set pulses racing with a first-place win at the Macarthur regional finals.
The win propelled them to the state finals in September last year where they narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
However, the team won an outstanding five categories (best engineering cad, best trade display, best graphic design, best team marketing, and fastest reaction time) and a wildcard entry to the Australian finals.
“We had the potential to make the top three and the wildcard shows we definitely have the potential to make it to the top at nationals. We hope to do our school and our community proud,” says team manager Jack Scettro
“The competition has been a unique experience and going into the national finals, although it’s another level altogether, we’re feeling confident.”
Resource manager Mitchell Phipps says the team regrouped after the pressure of the state finals and has since been busy making tweaks to the car and honing their communication skills to deliver a succinct oral presentation.
The stakes are high – a win would put Edge Performance in good stead for the high octane world finals where they could be crowned world champions.
This is familiar territory for Magdalene College, with the school’s most successful F1 team, Gamma Raycing, placing an impressive second at the 2014 world finals.
Graphics designer Hayden Richards came up with the Edge Performance’s branding, including the symbolic mountain peaks logo which signifies the team’s quest to reach the top of the competition.
He said the team was chuffed to collect five awards, including best graphic design, at the state finals, because “it made all our hard work and sleepless nights” worthwhile’’.
“We’ve all learned that teamwork is paramount in a competition like F1 in Schools,” Mitchell said.
“We’ve shown what we can do so far and now we’re looking forward to seeing how much further we can go,” Hayden added.
The team credited Magdalene’s Technology and Applied Studies teacher, Ian Gorrie, for helping them reach success in the competition so far.
“He has encouraged and supported our love of learning and our love of design and engineering. And here we are,” Mitchell said.
Billed as the world’s largest STEM competition, F1 in Schools encourages students to engage with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and builds pathways into engineering, science, marketing and technology careers.
Sponsorship is crucial to the competition as it allows teams to travel, construct their pit display for judging and fund uniforms and merchandise.
Edge Performance is keen to hear from local companies who would like to back them to successfully compete at the national finals.
Details: edgeperformance.co or phone Mitchell on 0425 502 927.
