Page 7 - 2022 - Altiora Vol 74

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F1 IN SCHOOLS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
F1 IN SCHOOLS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
In July, the much anticipated World
Championships of the F1 in Schools Competition
was held, with two BMGS students joining forces
with students from Newington College forming
Team Aqueous to represent Australia in this
premier STEM compeition. Playing a large role
in our students’ preparation was Nicholas Hayes
(2021 Alumni) who had been a member of Team
Thrust Vector, which also represented Australia
th
in 2019, finishing in 35 position.
In an outstanding result, Team Aqueous finished
th
in 19 position (from more than 50 schools
worldwide).
During an Assembly in Term 2, our members
of Team Aqueous presented a speech of their
recent experiences at the International Finals of
the F1 in Schools Competition:
Throughout these past holidays Charlie and I
have had the opportunity to go to Newington
College to participate in the F1 in Schools
International Finals. This competition was
the result of many hours of work over four
competitions, working our way through to
winning the National finals and being able to
represent Australia on a global stage, where we
finished 19 in the world and being nominated
th
for the Scuderia Ferrari Team Identity Award.
The F1 in Schools Competition has given us the
opportunity to really push ourselves, learning
to use CAD software to model our cars, leading
a team of people and collaborating with the
product design and manufacturing industries.
Through this we have learnt a multitude of skills,
in Engineering and in life, and learnt to see a
project through to completion.
This is the largest high school STEM competition,
consisting of 17,000 schools, across 44
countries. The Australian team is one of the most
successful in F1 in Schools. But if engineering,
CAD and manufacturing aren’t your forte, that’s
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OK; F1 in Schools has a lot more to offer than
just engineering: it’s all about teamwork. The
comp allows anyone to grow their skills in project
management, graphic design, public speaking and
much more.
We started our monumental F1 in Schools
journey in the DNT classroom in Year 9. F1 was
the primary reason we joined D&T; we both
saw [BMGS Team] Thrust Vector compete and
were amazed by the opportunity to compete
nationally. Of course, at the time, we didn’t
actually expect Perpetrol - our original team of
Henry Burrell, Jayden Gibson, Casper Larkin,
Bill Klein and I - to even make it through to
Regionals... until we did, securing second place.
After that we were hooked and it was on to
the State competition. The State competition
highlighted some poor time management skills,
which we labeled as “learning opportunities.”
However, despite these “learning opportunities’’
we still secured a 2 Place position and headed
nd
off to Nationals.
By the time of the Nationals were on, we were a
well-oiled machine; we had taken all that we had
learned and applied it to our National campaign.
The final day was a rollercoaster. By the time
they announced the winner we had counted
our blessings and were sure we hadn’t placed.
Fortunately, placing 2 in almost all of the
nd
Awards meant we had actually won, taking us to
the international competition!
At the end of the day, no matter how exhausting
the workload may be, F1 in schools was a bunch
of fun. The sense of comradery and satisfaction
of submission is what makes this competition so
great.
Charlie Burgess and Bill Klein (Year 11).
Nicholas is in the back row, furthest from camera. Bill is in
the front row, closest to camera, and Charlie is front row in
front of Nicholas.