Jersey's next generation of Formula 1 engineers take part in global competition

  • ITV Channel reporter Verity Wishart has met the pupils taking part in the competition

Students from schools across Jersey will enter a worldwide competition to design a Formula 1 racing car.

Teams from secondary schools will attempt to create, design, market and race a small-scale F1 racing car, powered by a CO2 canister, on a specially constructed track.

The final designs will compete against each other at a national competition in 2025, with the winner going through to the nationals in the UK, with a chance to make the world finals.

Last year, the World Finals were held over three days in Singapore, with 68 teams from around the world taking part.

One student says: "I really enjoy this, I think it's a great project and they've brought it to Jersey now.

"We just get to race the cars and you can turn this into a career."

Specialist equipment is used to test the reaction times of the drivers to give them the best chance of success. Credit: Digital Jersey

They added: "It's good team-building I think, getting people together, making friends as well along the way - I think it's really great", another added.

Specialist equipment is used to create the models, see how aerodynamic they are and test drivers' reaction times to give them the best chance of success.

The programme, introduced by Digital Jersey and Skills Jersey, allows students to develop teamwork, marketing, project management, and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills within an F1 context.

Sebastian Lawson, Technology Specialist at Digital Jersey says: "It's not just about the engineering and the design.

"It's also about how do you create a team, how do you actually bring lots of different skills together from graphic design to manufacturing, and understanding how to paint the car and make it look good and get the sponsors involved.

"They're all really useful skill sets and often they get missed in STEM challenges."

Tony Moretta, CEO at Digital Jersey, adds: "It's not just about F1 itself, it's how they take those digital marketing skills, how they take those design skills and we've got a bigger and bigger digital sector in the economy here and we need to bring people back from learning those skills off island as well as on island to fill those jobs of the future."

The initiative is inspiring the island's innovators, "I'm thinking of going into engineering in the future, so I think this is a great opportunity for people who want to do that sort of work", one said.

Another added: "It's really fascinating because I have quite an interest in cars so it's been quite a cool experience".

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