15/08/2011
NEWS STORY
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F1 in Schools has announced that the 2011 Formula One in Schools Technology Challenge World Finals will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event , scheduled for 19th - 21st September, has official endorsement from the Malaysian Ministry of Education.
The largest global educational initiative, F1 in Schools is staging its seventh World Finals and is expecting to welcome 23 teams from 17 countries, with representation from all four continents. The venue for the competitive element of the World Finals will be the Doubletree by Hilton in Kuala Lumpur.
F1 in Schools first took place in the United Kingdom in 1999, before becoming a national programme the following year. It has expanded across the globe since this time, enjoying year-on-year international growth and is now accessible to over 15 million students in 34 countries.
"This will be the second time that the World Finals have been held in Malaysia, with our first visit in 2008 proving to be highly successful," said Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools. "We are delighted that we have received official endorsement from the Ministry for Education in Malaysia and with their support we are anticipating another very popular and well-staged event and we know that the students who have won through to the World Finals from their National events will have the trip of a lifetime when they arrive in this beautiful country. There are over 800 schools engaged in F1 in Schools in Malaysia so home grown competition will be even stronger this year!
"It is always our aim to tie in our World Finals with a Formula 1 Grand Prix and with the proximity of Malaysia to Singapore we are able to offer the students the add-on of a trip to the Singapore Grand Prix."
The F1 in Schools World Finals have been previously held in Australia, UK, Malaysia and Singapore. At each event, over the course of the three days the teams are brought together for the biggest challenge of their life, competing for coveted automotive and motorsport engineering university scholarships to City University London and the prestigious Bernie Ecclestone World Champions trophy.
F1 in Schools aims to help change perceptions of engineering, science and technology by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Technology. Students are given a brief to design a model compressed air powered F1 Car of the future using CAD/CAM engineering techniques. Cars are then manufactured on a CNC machine. Each team of between three and six students brings together their work to present to a judging panel with a verbal and written presentation to support their model car, which is raced on a specially designed test track. At the World Finals each team will bring along a pit display, their cars and portfolio, as well as having prepared a verbal presentation for the judges.
The cars race on a 20 metre track, with the F1 Class cars covering the distance in just over one second, a speed barrier which is yet to be broken by any student team since it was set by Team FUGA from Northern Ireland at the 2007 World Finals with a time of 1.020 seconds.
The F1 in Schools World Finals take place with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters including the Malaysia Ministry of Education, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, and City University London.
Our picture shows Bernie Ecclestone presenting UNITUS Racing with the F1 in Schools 2010 trophy.