On the 21st of September, Parramatta Marist High School competed at the Western Sydney Regional Final of F1 in Schools. The F1 in Schools competition is an engineering challenge, which asks students to abide by strict regulations while attempting to design and manufacture a balsa car to complete a 20m track in less than 1 second. Each team develops a brand, finds sponsors, and markets their engineered solution to compete for points and qualification to the next round.
Our boys arrived at Mt Druitt College to set up their trade displays in the knowledge that they would be competing against teams such as Chrono from Girraween High School, twice National Finalists and Regional Champions. It’s also worth noting that our teams were set a slim six week deadline to design and manufacture their cars, support material and prepare for enterprise and engineering presentations. Due to inexperience and fluctuating manufacturing tolerances, both teams suffered time penalties. Even with the addition of these time penalties, Team Apollo PMHS clocked the fastest net single race track time, and team Mobius PMHS won the eight race Grand Prix. From these track times alone, it was clear to see that our students had designed and manufactured excellent aerodynamic solutions to meet and beat the best in the region.
Following extensive points scoring which took into account manufacturing standards, specifications, presentations, portfolios and trade displays, our teams placed 2nd (Mobius) and 4th (Apollo). Both teams qualified for the State Finals, to be held at WSU, 5th to 7th of November 2018. They are currently working their way through the judges’ feedback to form new iterations of their already successful designs.
Good luck at the next level boys.
