Last years F1 in Schools National Final was held on the 14 and 15 January 2006 at the Autosport International Motor Show at the NEC, Birmingham.
Thirty one teams competed in the UK final and the judges were extremely impressed with all the hard work that the students had put in to the production of their cars and portfolios, however only one team could win. After a long and exciting day it was finally revealed that the National Champions were the Bradfield Panthers from Bradfield School in Sheffield.
The team won some fantastic prizes including a day at the Williams F1 Factory and were also been invited to the Indianapolis Grand Prix, where they featured on ITV in a race against model cars prepared by design engineers at Ferrari, Honda, Renault and Toyota.
The pinnacle of their success is their attendance at the F1 in Schools World Final which takes place at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March 2007. The team must raise sponsorship in the region of £20,000 to attend both events.
This is a very high profile media event and the team of 7 students will be wearing team shirts displaying sponsors names, as well as a display stand featuring the names of those who have given their support. The team is currently working a on a website which will follow the development of their F1 car and will include a role of honour listing their supporters.
Following their success at the British final in January 2006, the team has featured on BBC’s Look North along with newspaper coverage in The Sheffield Star, The Times Education Supplement, Autosport Magazine and Motorsport News. We aim to raise the profile of the team prior to our attendance at the above events.