Linlithgow Academy pupils reach F1 car design finals

A group of schoolgirls from West Lothian are to compete in the world finals of an international competition to design a racing car.

The pupils from Linlithgow Academy qualified after coming first in their category in the F1 in Schools contest.

They will now represent the UK at the international competition in Singapore in September.

Team Accelerace is made up of five S3 pupils who have spent months perfecting the design of their model.

The model is just a few inches long.

The winning car achieved the fastest speed in a contest at Silverstone when it travelled 20 metres in just 1.361 seconds.

The girls qualified for the UK competition after success at regional level, but worked hard to improve the car's performance for the event at Silverstone.

Fifteen-year-old design manager Isla Petrie said: "We had three weeks in between and we spend a lot of hours doing designing and testing to try and make it faster.

"There was airflow analysis testing which shows how the air hits the car so we used that quite a lot to see where the red areas were, which meant the air was hitting the car harder."

Aoife Sutton, 15, resources manager, said it was a real team effort, which has taken them well beyond the classroom.

"It's been amazing, all the different skills and different things that we've learned that we wouldn't have learned through school, such as talking to different companies and communicating with people that we wouldn't get to speak to or have the opportunity to be in a boardroom with."

David Marshall is the teacher guiding the team through the process. He said it is not just about how fast the car goes, but the overall package presented by Team Accelerace which gained them the top UK prize.

He said: "Twenty five per cent of the overall mark is based around the speed of the car but they're also looking at team identity and folios, and engineering and design and enterprise.

"They're looking at presentations and an overall F1 team.

"The responsibility the girls have taken on their own shoulders has been very impressive.

"The girls are a real inspiration a real motivational force.

"Future years want to get involved in the F1 in schools competition."

Women are still under-represented in fields such as engineering and science.

However, taking part in this competition has inspired members of the team to think about these areas as careers.

Louise Murray, 15, the team's graphic designer, said: "There shouldn't be a difference in who can do science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and we're here taking on the boys.

"I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet but this has definitely opened my eyes and engineering is a real possibility for me."

Molly Ganner, 14, the team's manufacturing engineer, said: "I really love this engineering and this competition has made me look at my career choices.

"I do want to do engineering and potentially motor sport in the future. "

This is the first time that Linlithgow Academy has entered the competition.

Now they are hoping to make good progress in time for the world final in Singapore.

Team manger Louise Paterson said: "I'm so excited. I think we all are, especially as we didn't expect to be coming this far.

"More than anything we just want to have a really fun time, but maybe we can do something more than that as well. "