The finals of the F1 in Schools challenge were held at the Silverstone circuit and Enigma UK qualified to take its miniature Formula One car to the World Finals to be held in Austin, Texas, just before the 2016 USA Grand Prix in October.

F1 in Schools was developed to help change perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects by creating an exciting learning environment for young people and encouraging them to consider careers in engineering, Formula One, science, marketing and technology.

This global educational programme is helping to raise awareness of Formula One among 20 million students and 20,000 schools in 40 countries.

The competition challenges students to create their own F1 team which is commissioned to design, construct and race a miniature Formula One ‘Car of the Future’; a 21cm long scale model built from a modelling block and powered by a compressed air cylinder.

For the national finals, each team of between three and six students had to create a ‘pit’ display, race their car on a 20 metre track and prepare a presentation for the judges.

The Enigma team from Robert May’s School, led by 15-year-old Katelyn Chelberg, also won the Team Sponsorship and Marketing Award and were nominated in the Innovative Thinking Award category.

The car they created is powered by CO² and took 500 hours to build. During the production stage, the team got in touch with 3M Product Innovation leader Ben Watson, who offered to share his business and engineering knowledge.

In addition, 3M STEM ambassadors Kim Brewer, Neale Griffiths and Andy Henry helped the team with their personal development.

Said Ben: “We are delighted that Enigma won the National Championship and went on to collect special awards for sponsorship and marketing, two areas where we provided mentoring support, in addition to design and computational fluid dynamics tuition.”

Said Katelyn: “We’ve learned so much through this competition, particularly how to communicate with team mates, how to work with other companies and understand how they work, so many life skills that you learn.

“We’re very excited about going to Texas, but it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It will all be worth it, having put so much effort into it.”

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