Kingston College Students Compete In World F1 Schools Competition

As well as representing their college, the team is supported by the National Physical Laboratory, Imperial College London, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Russell Finex.

Tiro Racing team competed at the F1 in Schools London and South East Regional Final, winning the award for Best Team Identity and coming second overall. This meant qualification for the UK National Final at the Silverstone GP Circuit on the 28 - 30 March.

At the National Final, the team were successful in winning Best Engineered Car, English Champions and 2nd place overall, which was enough to qualify for the prestigious World Finals event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24 – 27 September.

This event will run alongside the Formula 1 Malaysia Grand Prix, which will provide large amounts of exposure for the teams.

F1 in schools offers an enterprising way to gain applicable skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Since its foundation, the project has involved over 20 million students across 44 countries, and is the largest STEM competition in the world. Students form teams of up to six members to design, manufacture and test a model Formula 1 car complying with a stringent set of regulations. Alongside this, teams must consider team identity, branding, marketing and sponsorship, similarly to how a real Formula 1 team would operate.

These teams must then compete against each other at a Regional, National and International Level, putting their handiwork through the tough scrutiny of a panel of professional judges. Awards are given to recognize various aspects of the project, not just the speed of the car.

Russell Finex, one of the team sponsors, has a firm link with Kingston College, through its apprentice training programme, with some of Tiro’s team members being classmates of current Russell apprentices. The company was pleased to provide sponsorship, which will hopefully help the team towards further success at the World Finals.