A TEAM of students from Barry Comprehensive School raced to victory in the South Wales Regional final of the 2012 F1 in Schools Formula One Technology Challenge, winning two awards.
The team, called BCS Racing, are celebrating winning the Best Engineered Car Award and the TATA Award for the Best use of CAD.
The competition challenges students to design, construct and race a Formula 1 car of the future, made from a block of balsa wood, and powered by a compressed air canister. The car is raced over a 20 metre track and the fastest time is recorded.
Aside from the on-track action, teams also produce supporting evidence of their design, with a written portfolio and a verbal presentation of their work, develop a sponsorship and marketing campaign and create team merchandise, with all these elements presented with their race car at the regional finals.
The challenge, in its 12th year, was introduced to the UK in 2000 and since then has expanded to 40 countries, with millions of students taking part around the globe.
Bernie Ecclestone, president and CEO of Formula One Management gave his support to F1 in schools by granting the challenge a world-wide protected trademark and a new logo in 2005. Since then, the initiative has built close links with teams and personalities within Formula 1.
The South Wales regional finals took place with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters, including The IET, Jaguar, Silverstone Circuit, Autosport, Denford, Tomorrow's Engineers, SolidWorks and City University London.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here