Tim Clark, Robert May’s School
I think it’s hard to overestimate the impact that F1 in schools has had on my life.
I have always harboured an Interest in high performance aerodynamics and mechanics, after all there aren’t many things more fascinating than a two hundred mile an hour car or a supersonic jet. However I found that in the school curriculum there was very little that even touched upon this interest. F1 in schools provided me with the opportunity to cultivate this interest and to learn in a practical (and very hands on way) about aerodynamic design.
The competitive nature of it only served to spur me on, to learn more and improve so I could ensure what I designed was the best it could be. The experience of competing in F1 in schools for two years has radically shifted my career ambitions, pre F1 in schools I wanted to a physicist but the competition has made me realise that it is the application of physical theories that enthrals me.
Competing both against a set of rules and against others to produce the best possible design. Aerodynamics (and its applications) has become my compulsion, you put a piece of paper and pencil in front of and I won’t be doodling I’ll be sketching the rear end of an F1 car, that’s why I’ve realised I want to be an aerodynamic designer.
F1 in schools provided me with a new sort of challenge that I had never encountered in my life, one that does not exist in traditional academic life and has in sense completely redefined my future ambitions and goals. Could you ask for any more from a competition? In my opinion, no.
