The Baker Dearing Educational Trust hosted an F1 in Schools Test Day on Friday 15th November for over 70 students from five UTCs to give them the opportunity to experience the F1 in Schools competition.

The day was opened by Steve Leahey, Senior Advisor to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust and Mark Busfield, Director of the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering at the University of Bolton.

Together they welcomed students from UTC Leeds, Greater Peterborough UTC, UTC Warrington, Silverstone UTC and University Collegiate School in Bolton to the Social Learning Zone at the university, which for one day had been transformed into a F1 in Schools race track.

Students had the opportunity to race prototype F1 in Schools cars and get feedback on their designs from Tom Milner, Project Director at F1 in Schools, as well as students from Scarborough UTC, whose team Unity Racing are through to the F1 in Schools World Finals this year.

UTC students also attended workshops with Autodesk, Ansys, students from the University of Bolton who have been judges in the F1 in Schools National Finals, and Scarborough UTC students and alumni, who talked about their experience of the competition, from the very beginnings, all the way to the World Finals.

Iwan Roberts, Education Manager at Autodesk said:

“The spirit was highly positive throughout the day and some of the students showed exceptional interest and abilities, with amazing questions and engagement!”

Tom Milner, who oversaw the whole event and gave students valuable feedback on their preparation for the test day during scrutineering sessions during the day, added that:

“It was a great day with all the UTC’s and partners.”