It was a race to the finish line for team CHspeed at the North West division of the F1 in Schools Competition. The team came in 2nd, securing themselves a place at the National Finals in Bristol in April.
Team Manager, Mehar said: “We had 11 weeks to prepare, out of which we 5 weeks was just planning and then 6 to get everything together.”
The team Manufacturing Engineer, Louis, said: “We found it quite hectic and a bit stressful because we had a lot of tasks to do.”
Mehar said: “It was more difficult towards the end we had a problem which was breaking a regulation that could have cost us the competition. We had to go and get the car manufactured again to ensure this didn’t happen.”
Team Design Engineer, Ibrahim said: “We have never really experienced anything like the competition before, so on the day of the competition it was a new experience. We just tried to stay organised because we had lots of people coming to look at our stand.”
Louis, added: “Mehar did the competition last year so going in to it we thought it would be a bit easier than it actually was. When we got there we realised how much harder it was. It made us change our tune and work harder.”
The competition was judged in a 4 step process starting with the pit display, judged on how it was designed and the team identity. Second stage was the design engineering of the car. Third was verbal presentation. Finally the fourth stage was races.
Mehar said: “The verbal presentation was prepared a bit last minute so we didn’t do as well in that bit but the races helped us overcome that because of the reaction times. Louis’ reaction times are really fast which helped us come 2nd in the end.”
Team Finance manager, Matthew said: “The next step is modifying and improving the car for the Professional Class. It is obviously going to take a lot more work but we are dedicated to getting it done. We have lots of new Ideas and I think we’re a very creative team.”
Team Graphics designer, James added: “We pretty nervous for the next bit but still really excited at the same time.”
“The biggest lesson and skill we have learnt from the process so far is proper time management. We have 11 weeks until the next competition so we have a plan of when things need to be done and we are going to stick to it. We definitely feel more prepared for next time.” Matthew said.
We wish the team good luck for the next stages of the competition! Keep up to date with their team by following them on Twitter @HspeedC.
