Secondary school students across Jersey will have an opportunity to design, build and race their very own small-scale F1 car over the coming months, as part of a new initiative brought to the island jointly by Digital Jersey and Skills Jersey.
Digital Jersey has become the Channel Islands ‘Centre of Excellence’ for the global ‘F1 in Schools’ educational challenge-style programme, which gives students an opportunity to develop their teamwork, marketing, project management, and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills within an F1 context.
Over the course of the programme, 18 teams from across Jersey’s secondary schools will attempt to create, design, market and race a small-scale F1 racing car, powered by a CO2 canister, on a specially constructed track. To support them, teams have access to specialist kit, including computer aided design software, and will receive monthly sessions with the Digital Jersey team.
The final designs will then compete against each other in a regional Jersey contest early next year, with the winner of that going through to the national UK Finals stage and potentially the F1 in Schools World Finals later in 2025.
Last year, the World Finals were held over three days in Singapore, with 68 teams from around the world taking part.
Commenting on the launch of the initiative, Tony Moretta, CEO, Digital Jersey, said: “This is such an exciting project that will truly engage local students and enable them to develop their STEM skills, as well as their broader marketing, communication, project management and teamwork expertise – all against the backdrop of F1. There is also a great opportunity to go and represent Jersey in the UK and, potentially, further afield.”
Dave Roworth, Senior Advisor at Skills Jersey, added: “I’m delighted to have worked collaboratively with Digital Jersey to bring this initiative to the island. It’s a programme that can really help develop our young people and harness their imagination and creativity, in a fun but challenging way. We know how important it is to provide the wonderful young talent in our schools with exciting opportunities that tests their skills and which can open the door to other opportunities in the future. We’re looking forward to seeing the car designs of all those taking part over the coming months.”
