Formula One Technology Challenge
Big league racing in High School Technology
Level: Year 10-11
School: Auckland Grammar School
F1 in Schools – An international phenomenon
Auckland Grammar School Technology teacher Matthew Bennett led New Zealand's first secondary school team "Trans-Tasman Racing" to compete in the F1 in Schools, Technology Challenge world finals in Kuala Lumpur in September 2011.
Year 10 Technology may seem a far cry from the high stakes world of Formula One racing, but the F1 in Schools programme has been trying to bridge that gap by encouraging the next generation of engineers and designers in secondary schools to compete in this international event.
In past competitions Australasia has been represented by Australian students through the Re-Engineering Australia Foundation (REA), a not-for-profit organisation that links with companies in Australia and world-wide to provide exciting and challenging educational programmes in engineering and design through action-learning in science, maths and technology.
"Through the appeal of Formula One, F1 in Schools is engaging and inspiring young people, piquing their interest in engineering related careers, connecting students to industry and making learning relevant and fun!"
For Matthew, the journey to Kuala Lumpur began when he was contacted in May 2011 by REA, who wanted to increase student numbers in the project by setting up a collaboration between an Australian and New Zealand team.
This led to Matthew getting in touch with staff at Mirani State High school in Queensland who filled Matthew in on F1 programme, and the role that Auckland Grammar could play within the established Mirani team and the car's development.
How the programme works
The F1 in Schools challenge consists of a team of students collaborating on the construction of a CO2 gas-propelled model car with a balsa wood body, that races in a series of time trials and speed competitions, with some cars reaching speeds of up to 70kmh.
"Students design the car to travel down a 20m track (guided by a wire filament) as quickly as possible within a set of predefined constraints," Matthew says. "The technical side of things goes into very specific details on the size of the original balsawood blank, the overall length and weight of the car, and even specifies that there has to be an area of solid material in the centre of the car that is like a virtual cargo, or driver. So it's a massive problem-solving exercise."
As well as the car's performance, teams are assessed on a portfolio that documents the marketing of the team, the pit display, and the car design and manufacturing process using CAD and CAM,as well as a verbal presentation to the judges.
"The international event is very much student-driven," Matthew says, "I am basically the guy who stands there and provide the tools that they need to be able to do the job."
Picking the Auckland team
After consultation with the Headmaster, Matthew decided to go ahead with the challenge and began a selection process to find the right students for the job. As the team would be joining an established project and primarily handling the promotional aspects, design and communication skills were given priority.
Seven students were invited to apply for the three positions available, with each applicant explaining the skills and attributes they could bring to the team. The students selected were Isaac Hardijanto as Resource Manager, Sakayan Sitsabesan as Website Developer and Wood Cheng as Graphic designer.
Components of the F1 challenge
Component 1 - Communication/IT
In order for Matthew to be able to step back into more of a facilitating role, establishing a strong mode of communication between the Mirani and Auckland Grammar teammates was crucial. To avoid phone costs and scheduling issues, a virtual classroom was established at Mirani with a discussion board. This proved to be an invaluable tool for the team members to ask questions, communicate results, and keep their teammates and stakeholders completely up to date with developments.
Video conferencing also served a big role in creating a rapport between the students and made communication, particularly of visual ideas, far more effective.
The Auckland Grammar team created their own website to promote what they were doing to a wider audience, which also helped develop their communication, design and IT skills.
Component 2 - Fund-raising
Due to the large cost of flying the boys to the Kuala Lumpur event, Matthew made fund-raising an important element of the boy's responsibilities. As well as sausages sizzles, and chocolate fund-raising, the boys conducted mail-outs to local industry for support. Matthew admits that the response was underwhelming.
"I think we have struggled with the vastness of Auckland, we approached about 55 companies and got one response, but if we had been in a smaller community I think people would have come on-board more freely."
Fortunately, sponsorship has also been made available through the Australian Ministry of defence, who are keen to encourage engineering, the school, and the headmaster's council, who all helped to pay for flights to Kuala Lumpur and entry fees for the championship.
Component 3 - Modelling/Design
As much of the project work and machining on the team car had already been completed at Mirani, Matthew tried to give the boys a theoretical understanding of those procedures.
"What we did is replicate the sort of process the Mirani team have gone through, so the boys had an understanding of the theory even though they hadn't seen the car being made. For instance, we looked at how they have developed the machining code to be able to manufacture the car."
In the end the Auckland team did get a chance to make an improvement on the existing car's design by creating a detachable rear aerofoil that made the car far easier to maintain as well as simplifying its overall design.
"I had a chat with Gary from 3D printing systems and said 'we are after some industry support, could you print off some parts for us?' and he said no problem. So I got the boys to flick the STL (stereolithography CAD) files of the new aerofoil to him and we went from there," Matthew says.
The challenges
While Matthew feels that involvement in the F1 event is extremely worthwhile, he admits the resources needed are considerable."At the bare minimum you would need 3D modelling software such as Solid Works, and you would need a CNC (computer numerical control) machine – either a miller or a router – to cut out the balsawood body. After that, you can take it as far as you like with things like wind tunnel software or even a smoke tunnel if you wanted."
These requirements have led to the establishment of hub and satellite systems between some schools involved in the programme so that some of the more expensive resources can be shared.
Aside from the resources needed, the programme also provided some technical challenges.
"Communication was one big challenge as sometimes it might take a day or two to get something back after posting a question on the virtual classroom. The video conferencing software was also temperamental at times."
With a set deadline for the event and a large amount at stake, Matthew also had to be watchful that the students were always on track.
"The students often think 'the event isn't until September which is ages away' so with the short time span that we had, I always tried to get them up-to-speed quickly and to understand the urgency that was required."
Problems also arose in the modelling and design component, as Mirani used the CAD software CATIA while Auckland Grammar used SolidWorks. Matthew used a trial version of a converter that gave ten free conversions, enough for the seven key parts the team needed. Once the car's files were converted the students were able to create a compatible aerofoil design that could be sent to the 3D printer to be produced in light plastic.
The outcome and rewards
At the event in Kuala Lumpur, the Trans Tasman Racing team placed 13th out of the 23 teams and took third place in the overall engineering category, a significant achievement particularly when considering the late start given to the Auckland team.
Even with all the challenges that the event has thrown his way, Matthew feels that participation in such a high profile event has done wonders for increasing the profile of Technology in the school and the wider community. The project also received good coverage in the press, including a front page article in the local newspaper, Central Leader.
Student benefits have also been significant.
"The ability to associate the work the boys have done in class to a real life situation and connect that to what happens in the real world and industry has been of huge benefit," Matthew says. "I think it has really opened their eyes to the scope and breadth of careers available within that field."
"They were also really excited to communicate with students overseas and see that New Zealand isn't isolated in what we are teaching. And the biggest thing they have gained is the ability to work within that larger team."
The high cost of being involved in an international event has also helped the students take ownership and responsibility for their commitments. "It's about understanding that things don't come for free and that we have to pay for things," Matthew says.
What's next?
Ideally Matthew would like to establish a purely New Zealand team for the world championships, but has also considered creating a competition on a national, or even local, level, with Auckland Grammar acting as a hub school for other schools interested in the project but without the resources or experience.
While unsure as to whether the F1 unit will become a permanent part of the school's Technology programme, for now Matthew is keen to set it up as an established extracurricular activity for students with a real passion for design and engineering and has already begun scouting the junior levels for next year's team.
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