Dundalk school wins F1 Challenge

A team from Dundalk was the overall winner of this year’s F1 in Schools Technology Challenge.

They fought off fierce competition from 27 teams from all over Ireland in the national final at Griffith College, Dublin.

In the international competition, which is run in Ireland by the Irish Computer Society, teams of students design, build and race their CO2-powered model F1 cars.

Team Govannon, the winning team from Dundalk Grammar School, consisted of:

• Michael O’Neill (team manager)
• Niall Carroll (graphic designer)
• Jack Farrell (resource manager)
• Steven Butterly (manufacturing engineer)
• Conor Clarke (manufacturing engineer)

World Championships

Besides being awarded the national trophy and €2,000 in prize money, they will represent Ireland in the 2011 World Championships next autumn.

Work started last September for the 2010 finals, and 600 students representing 150 schools battled their way through regional finals.

“The commitment shown by both the teachers and the students is mind-blowing,” says Andrew Denford, founder and chairman of F1 In Schools. “The high standards attained give us great confidence for the future development of science and technology in Ireland.

“We see this as a creative opportunity to promote the technological skills and designs of second-level students.”

T4 technology subjects

As well as racing head to head, the teams were judged on the quality of engineering, portfolio, resource management, marketing, graphic design and sponsorship activities and on a verbal presentation of their work.

“Schools see the value of incorporating the challenge into their extra-curricular activities.”

“We believe it is the perfect preparation for ‘t4′ technology subjects, which are now being examined in secondary schools across the country.”

- Jim Friars, chief executive, Irish Computer Society

Learn more

Visit Team Govannon’s website, and play a game to measure your reaction times

Find out more about the competition at the F1 in Schools website