Held in Austin, Texas the F1 in Schools™ World Finals 2016 saw Indian High School Dubai’s ‘Knighthawks’ walk off with the Best Engineered Car Award, placing sixth overall in the competition. ‘Team Impulse’ from Repton School in Dubai also performed well, fielding the youngest ever team to compete at the World Finals Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 26, 2016: A team of students from Dubai picked up a coveted award in the finals of the world’s most prestigious international design competition: F1 in Schools™ – The Formula One® STEM Challenge. Created to engender excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the annual competition challenges students from all over the world to create their own Formula 1® team, which then designs, constructs and races scale model cars. The ‘Knighthawks’ team from Indian High School Dubai won the 'Best Engineered Car Award' sponsored by Williams Racing at the F1 in Schools™ World Finals 2016. The victory took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Austin, Texas, USA with three days of intense competition delivering the toughest event yet. A total of 23 awards were presented at the glittering Awards Celebration Gala Dinner attended by a star-studded audience of Formula 1® team representatives, drivers and paddock personalities. Sponsored by Williams Racing, the Best Engineered Car Award covers all aspects of engineering design, manufacture, quality and specification compliance of the car and is usually won by the World Championship-winning team. The Knighthawk’s entry was superior in every way to its rivals, meaning the team walked off with the prestigious trophy. The team also won the Research and Development award sponsored by McLaren Honda for outstanding research that translated into design improvement and technical development of the car. Narrowly missing on a podium place by only 20 points, the historic win also meant the Knighthawks finished sixth overall out of 39 teams from 23 countries – an unprecedented result for a UAE school at the annual event. Also flying the flag for the UAE were Repton School’s ‘Team Impulse’ – the youngest ever team to appear at the World Finals. The team managed to score equal first place on points in car scrutineering, being one of only two teams achieving a specification score. However, they lost out to ‘Fast Tech Crew’ from Germany in the tie-breaker. Team Impulse placed 24th out of 39 overall – a superb result considering their ages, managing to beat many older and more experienced students. Paul Bray, F1 in Schools™ Manager at Yas Marina Circuit, said: “This is a fantastic win for the Knighthawks and a great performance from Team Impulse. They should both be very proud of their achievement. To walk off with the most technically demanding award at this global event means that the UAE’s schools are becoming a force to be reckoned with in this competition. I look forward to an even more impressive showing in 2017!” F1 in Schools™ challenges students to create their own Formula One team which is commissioned to design, construct and race the fastest miniature Formula One Car of the Future; a 21cm long scale model built from the F1 in Schools™ model block and powered by a compressed air cylinder. Each team of between three and six students creates a ‘pit’ display and showcases their work in developing their race car. At the World Finals each team brings along a pit display, their cars and portfolio, as well as having prepared a verbal presentation for the judges. The cars race on a 20 metre track, with the cars covering the distance in around one second. The F1 in Schools™ World Finals 2016 took place with the assistance of a host of supporters including Formula One Management, Circuit Of The Americas, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Autodesk, City University London and UCL Engineering.
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