We are delighted to share that four of our Year 9 ‘F1 in Schools’ teams have won places in the South-East Asia Finals of this global competition! But what is F1 in Schools all about, and why is it such an exciting competition? We meet the four teams from GIS who’ve made it so far, to learn more.
What’s F1 in schools all about?
F1 in Schools Ltd is a not-for-profit company which describes itself as “providing an exciting yet challenging educational experience through the magnetic appeal of Formula 1”!
F1 in Schools is a global multi-disciplinary STEM challenge in which teams of students aged 9 to 19 deploy CAD/CAM software to collaborate, design, analyse, manufacture, test, and then race miniature compressed air-powered cars, made from F1 model block.
The challenge inspires students to use IT to learn about physics, aerodynamics, design and manufacture – and apply them in a practical, imaginative, competitive and exciting way. It is truly a fantastic STEM Challenge! But it doesn’t end there: the students must also work together effectively to raise sponsorship, promote their brand and successfully manage budgets to fund research, travel and accommodation! It really is a STEM challenge like no other.
The Stages of the Competition
At GIS, we have supported F1 in Schools Malaysia for many years, and regularly host the first stage of the competition. During the first stage in March, 30 teams from international schools all over Malaysia come together to race their cars and battle it out for a place in the final.
The upcoming SouthEast Asian Finals of the F1 in Schools challenge are being held at the Australian International School Malaysia, on 14th June. Over a one day event, teams will get to race their cars, show off their pit displays, give verbal presentations about their models, before the winner is ultimately announced! The winner will get the chance to attend the F1 in Schools World Final in 2020!
Four teams from GIS will be joining the SEA Finals on 15th June: Infiniti, Impulse 1, Hornets and wild card entry, Amnis.
Let’s meet the teams!
INFINITI
Team members: Shee Yi Rong, Gureesha Sohan, Jessica Tomson, Leisha Rohan, Aaron Banyard
What inspired you to take part in the competition? All of us have an interest in many aspects of the competition, such as design or marketing. During the preliminary rounds, we found the experience immensely captivating and had an enjoyable time. Fortunately for us, we obtained an outstanding achievement of second place, and were all extremely motivated to work hard in the SEA Finals of the F1 in Schools competition.
What inspired your model/design? We took inspiration to create our model from the previous winners of the F1 in Schools races. Our car design is one that combines the strengths of each past winner, along with our own unique innovations, ultimately creating the fastest possible design. We believe that our model will race to victory on the day due to the effort that we put in.
What have you found most challenging / most rewarding taking part in the competition? By far, the most challenging aspect of the competition is the heavy workload that comes with it. We were required to perform consistently, putting in more effort than has ever been done to create the best possible outcome. Thankfully, the challenges that we faced were paramount for us to develop our cohesiveness and efficiency as a whole.
What will winning the competition mean to you? For us to win this round of the competition would mean that all our hard work and effort has bore fruit to the title of champion – a title we’ve been striving to achieve since the start. We’d also advance to the final stage – the World Finals – which is something that we are all hoping to reach in the end.
IMPULSE 1
Team members: Aria Nadkarni , Lianne Marti, Amanda Suliawan, Lexing Zou, Jason Leong, Ming Yee Choong
What inspired you to take part in the competition? Initially, we took part in the project as part of our Design and Technology unit. However, upon advancing to the second stage of this competition, we have realised that it has given us the chance to build transferable soft skills that are applicable in real-life, including marketing, leadership and time management.
What inspired your model/design? Our current model is an adaptation of our initial Impulse F1’s car from the inter-school competition. The overall structure of the car has been modeled after F1 cars to decrease drag and air resistance, hence the ‘teardrop’ shape. Modifications have been made to ensure the edges of the car are smooth to create the most streamlined car possible whilst staying within the guidelines set by F1 in Schools.
What have you found most challenging / most rewarding taking part in the competition? We have faced a myriad of challenges throughout the duration of this competition. Poor time management has definitely been one of the most consistent issues we have faced and has caused us a large number of problems in the past. It is also a challenge to decide on things as a group and come to a unanimous decision, because team members often have differing opinions. However, these challenges provide us ample learning opportunities to see what we can improve on as well as what we have done well.
What will winning the competition mean to you? Winning has been a clear goal for our team since the start of this project. It would not only provide us with a euphoric sense of achievement, but it would give us a sense of extreme validation in which the effort and passion we put into this project was worth it. Winning would mean that we, as a team have checked off many boxes that an ideal team would have. Winning would mean that we have succeeded in creating a team that has the ability to cooperate with one another and use each of our strengths and weaknesses to our advantage. To us, winning is not about performing better than others, rather it is performing to our highest abilities and unleashing our full potential as a team.
TEAM HORNETS
Team members: Soumya Anand, Priyankaa Elamaran, Su Mae Khor
What inspired you to take part in the competition? What inspired us, collectively, in this F1 competition was the drive to take part in something new that would provide us with many skills that could benefit us in the future. Moreover, it seemed like a good experience and was inspiring to see other groups face and overcome challenges from the competition.
What inspired your model/design? The design engineer had to weigh in various different aspects to conclude what made a successful car. Our design is a light-weight model with a cone coming down the body. This was mostly inspired by our team identity as our team name is hornets we wanted something in our car to resemble our team, making it unique.
What have you found most challenging / most rewarding taking part in the competition? As the final competition drew nearer in school, we all started to get nervous and apprehensive. Not only did we have main roles on that day, but we would be assessed on our project which we had worked on countless days and nights. However, at the end of it, regardless our position or marks, we all appreciated the massive amount of hard work; to us was the most rewarding moment after emerging victorious.
What will winning the competition mean to you? Winning this competition will mean that regardless of the conflict and great amounts of challenges faced under the pressure of the competition, if we still manage to find our way through as a team, we would turn out successful.
WILD CARD: AMNIS
Team members: Ashika Upadhyay, Sky Mills, Naomi Chan, Ayaka Mashio, Shreya Pillai
What inspired you to take part in the competition? We decided to enter this competition because each of us, as individuals, have passions that closely correlate with different aspects of this competition. It also teaches us how to stay organised and we apprehend many skills that will be useful for us in the future.
What inspired your model/design? The themes and design of our team involve sophisticated colours that stand out. This draws more attention to us. We also chose colours that were associated with the UNO wildcard (meaning yellow, red, green, blue). We decided not to include green because it was an eyesore and didn’t go well with the other shades.
What have you found most challenging / most rewarding taking part in the competition? So far, the most challenging part has been time management. We had to make Gantt charts and to-do lists to make sure we were up to date on everything. Time management is one of the most vital aspects of any project because we can take the right amount on each task, ensuring that they’re done to the best quality. The most rewarding part of the competition so far are the new friendships we’ve made with out fellow team members.
What will winning the competition mean to you? Winning and moving on to the World Finals would be phenomenal and we would be so excite! It would mean that our hard work paid off and even if we don’t win, our work will still be worth it because we believe that the competition is all about the experience and the journey because that is where we acquire the versatile skill set that F1 In Schools helps you build.
