Four pupils from North Leamington School have won the national final for F1 in Schools and will now represent the UK at the world finals, which are being held in Abu Dhabi in November. Academics from WMG have been working with the students to help them to develop 3D printed parts for their car, which won the UK competition at the NEC earlier this month.

The team from Leamington Spa, named Whittle Wonders, has been supported by WMG for the last three years of the competition. Dr Greg Gibbons, Head of Additive Layer Manufacturing Research at WMG helped the team to produce 3D printed parts for their cars, including the front nose cone and aerofoil components.

The competition embraces all aspects of a real F1 team and is a demanding challenge for students to take part in. The competitors not only have to design a model F1 car using CAD packages, they have to use fluid dynamics to optimise its shape, CNC equipment for manufacture and then, ultimately, race the finished product at speeds of up to 60mph on competition day. As well as winning the overall competition, North Leamington School also won awards for Fastest Car and Best Portfolio. Led by Team Manager, Thomas Bradford, 15, with fellow students Harry Birch, 16, Testing Engineer; Ryan McLaren, 15, Manufacturing Engineer and Thomas Govern, 15, Design Engineer, the team were on a well-deserved high following the Awards presentation at the event held at the Big Bang Science and Engineering Fair in Birmingham.

Dr Greg Gibbons from WMG said:

Congratulations to the Whittle Wonders on their excellent achievement, which is a result of all their hard work since the beginning of the school year. Racing at the international competition in Abu Dhabi will be a fantastic experience and we look forward to following their progress.”

F1 in Schools is a well-established worldwide event. Last year 20,000 teams from 40 countries took part. Spanning age ranges of 9 to 19, its main objective is to help change the perceptions of science, technology, engineering and maths by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in engineering, Formula One, science, marketing and technology.

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools summed up the F1 in Schools UK National Finals 2014 saying:

We’ve enjoyed a very exciting National Finals this weekend. The level of work produced by the students is outstanding and is a credit to all the participants for the effort they put in to meeting the challenge presented by F1 in Schools. Our congratulations go to Whittle Wonders from North Leamington School. It is the third year of competition for the school and after improving each year, they have finally reaped the ultimate reward with a place at the National Finals and a trip to Abu Dhabi to represent the UK.“