Irish team CCJ Autovinco (St.Brigid’s, Loughrea) 2nd in F1 in Schools World Finals as Australia wins title

Sep 16, 2018

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Horizon, a team of students from Brighton Secondary School, Adelaide, were crowned F1 in Schools World Champions 2018 at the 14th F1 in Schools World Finals, held this year at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, while Irish team, CCJ Autovinco from St. Brigid’s College, Loughrea, County Galway were runners-up with Perspective, a USA team representing Palmetto High School, from Bradenton, Florida in third place.

Chase Carey, Executive Chairman, CEO, Formula One Group, and Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools, presented the new Formula 1 F1 in Schools World Champions Trophy to Horizon at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) supported Awards Celebration Gala Dinner, attended by Formula 1 team representatives and invited guests.

The glittering awards extravaganza, attended by over 600 people including guest of honour, Peter Ong, Chairman, Enterprise Singapore, the 50 World Finals teams, teachers, dignitaries and key Formula 1 paddock personnel celebrated the achievements of the F1 in Schools World Finalists, the future Engineers and professionals of the Formula 1 industry.

The Horizon team with James Gurney (16), Luke Battjes (18), James Lloyd (16), JJ Elliss (16), Tom Lightfoot (15), Luka Moase (15) win scholarships for City, University London and UCL Engineering, as well as being guests of Formula 1 with complimentary four-day paddock access to the FORMULA 1 2018 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX and presentation of the new Formula 1 F1 in Schools trophy, in front of the F1 photographers, on the podium at the Marina Bay circuit.

The Australian team also won the Best Engineered Car Award supported by Williams Racing and the Fastest Car Award, supported by Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, with the team’s car clocking a time of 0.977 seconds on the F1 in Schools track, the only team at this year’s World Finals to post a sub one-second time. Horizon were also nominated for the Research and Development Award.

Horizon Team Manager, James Gurney, said of winning, “We’re feeling on top of the world. We knew there were so many competitive teams around but we knew how much work we had done and were just hoping that we had done enough. For some of us it’s been three or four years working on this, but we’ve had late nights and an amazing journey. Well done to all the other teams too, they’ve been very special and we’re going to have lifelong friends and memories.”

Of the team’s success he said, “The engineering behind our car was very precise and we were constantly improving and refining it to make the best product possible. We were perfectionists, making sure nothing was half hearted, the effort and dedication we put in, were the key for us. The experience will be something we’ll hold for the rest of our lives.”

Guest of Honour, Peter Ong, Chairman, Enterprise Singapore raced Chase Carey at the start of the night, with Chase narrowly beating Peter in the ‘celebrity race’. Prior to presenting the trophy to the World Champions Chase said, “I want to thank and congratulate tonight’s competitors, who are the most impressive group of young people that I have ever met in many years. Your energy and passion are incredible and my hope is that some of you will end up in Formula 1 at some point in the future, but what is clear is the world is yours. You are an incredibly talented group of individuals and all of you have exciting futures ahead of you. If the future of the world is based on our youth, the future of the world is in good hands. I cannot be more impressed with the geographic spread, the diversity, the number of young women that are engaging in this activity, it’s just incredible. We couldn’t be more excited about the future, we couldn’t be more excited about working with F1 in Schools to continue to build on what’s in place.”

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools added, “It has been a fantastic World Finals, a real celebration of the outstanding talents of our students from across the globe, but there can only be one World Champion and my congratulations go to Horizon, from a team down under, they’re definitely on top now!

“With seven all-girls teams this year and a 40:60 female/male students ratio, we’re representing the increasing popularity of STEM with girls, which is great. F1 in Schools is just like Formula 1 in miniature and we hope that we inspire more and more girls to pursue careers in the sport. We are also seeing more and more F1 teams recruits from F1 in Schools and selecting our best students reflects their achievements and excellence. Finally, I would like to thank Chase and Formula 1 for their continued support of our World Finals.”

The evening included the announcement of nine elated students who won coveted places at the Unilever Williams Engineering Academy. Students from England, Vietnam, Ireland, Mexico, Wales and the USA, were announced by Nicola Salter, Group HR Director, Williams and Dave Penrith, Chief Engineer, Unilever, on stage at the awards. This is the fourth intake to the Academy that takes its students exclusively from F1 in Schools World Finals events each year.

A rigorous selection process with a distinguished panel of Williams personnel led by Dave Redding, Race Team Manager, assessed 25 talented F1 in Schools World Finalists earlier this week. Launched in 2014 the students benefit from this remote e-learning programme with the successful candidates receiving support, training and guidance to underpin their engineering education.

The F1 in Schools World Finals 2018 has been an excellent showcase of the talents of these 50 teams from 22 countries, with outstanding professionalism and the highest standards of work that encompass the core Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics modules as well as the life skills that are in such demand by industry. The opening day of the competition, with verbal presentations, portfolio, pit display, engineering judging sessions, as well as the intense pressure of F1 in Schools track racing, gave the teams their first taste of competing at the highest level of this acclaimed global education challenge.

Judging continued on the second day with the final round of racing producing the fastest car time of 0.997 seconds, set by the eventual World Champions, Horizon. The next day featured Knockout Racing, with the final head to head battle pitting TNT Racing UDG from Mexico against Lux from China facing each other in the final showdown race, held at the IET supported Awards Celebration Gala Dinner, with Lux claiming victory. A total of 22 awards were presented, rewarding the outstanding achievements of the F1 in Schools 2018 World Finals teams.

The F1 in Schools World Finals 2018 is held with the support of a host of sponsors including Formula 1, Denford, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Autodesk, FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, City University of London, UCL Engineering, Acronis, Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore GP and Resorts World Sentosa.

Full list of Awards:

Award Supported by Team Name Country School
World Champions Formula 1, City, University of London & UCL Engineering HORIZON Australia Brighton Secondary School
2nd Place Singapore GP CJJ AUTOVINCO Ireland St Brigid’s College
3rd Place The IET PERSPECTIVE United States Palmetto High School
Outstanding Sportsmanship Award Force India Formula One Team LUX China The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University
Pit Display Award Scuderia Toro Rosso FEROXIDUS Singapore Raffles Girls’ School
Best Engineered Car Award Williams Racing HORIZON Australia Brighton Secondary School
Team Identity Award Scuderia Ferrari DRIVE Wales Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni
Chair of Judges Recognition of Achievement Award Aston Martin Red Bull Racing TEAM B.E.S.T. Brazil Four C Bilingual Academy
Fastest Car Award Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team HORIZON – 0.997s Australia Brighton Secondary School
Resilience Award Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team IMPARABLES JS Mexico Cecyte Hermosillo IV
Team Sponsorship & Marketing Award Haas F1 Team CJJ AUTOVINCO Ireland St Brigid’s College
Women in Motorsport Award FIA Women in Motorsport Commission DEX-RAC RACING Malaysia Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom Secondary School
Research and Development Award McLaren PERSPECTIVE United States Palmetto High School
Scrutineering Award FIA ORIGIN England Robert May’s School
Verbal Presentation Award Formula 1 UNITY UK Emmanuel College
Motorsport Network Moment of the Week Award Motorsport Network NOVA Mexico Colegio de Bachilleres del Estado de Sonora
Knockout Competition Winners Pirelli LUX China The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University
Best International Collaboration Team Award Shell ARION Cyprus & Greece The English School, Cyprus & Greek German School of Athens, Greece
Innovative Thinking Award Renault Sport F1 Team GEMS NEUTRINO UAE Cambridge International School
Social Media Award ID PR & Marketing BWT STREAM Austria HTL Steyr and Vienna International School
Enterprise Portfolio Award Acronis UNITY RACING Germany Gymnasium Grootmoor
Team Website Award Mastereign NAM PHONG RACING Vietnam British International School, Ho Chi Minh City

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