About 100 secondary students from eight schools across the state participated in a Formula 1 competition at the Wyndham Tech School.
The task was to design and construct miniature racing cars built from a block of balsa wood.
The cars are then raced on a 20 metre track powered by cans filled with pressurised carbon dioxide gas, enabling the cars to reach speeds of up to 80 kilometres an hour.
Wyndham Tech School’s operations manager STEM education Sam Nikolsky said the project allows students to build skills in project management, engineering design, manufacturing and graphic design, and develop a lifelong interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)
“[The event is] part of an international STEM competition where the students form teams of up to five members, and they need to manage their team like a business and at the same time they go through the manufacturing process [to build the] miniature Formula 1 racing cars,“ he said.
Formula 1 in Schools involved 13,000 students from 51 countries.
“It’s a really fantastic competition that pushes students to achieve really high levels of industry driven school sets, that really sets them up for their tertiary students and their careers,“ Mr Nikolsky said.
The challenge took place on Wednesday and Thursday November 9 and 10, from 9am-4pm and winning teams will now go on to represent Australia at the national finals next March.
