A Granbury High School team is preparing for regional competition in the F1 in Schools program to be held April 5, 2014, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
Team Affinity members are students in career and technical education classes: Chloe Scroggins, project manager; Ian McMasters, manufacturing engineer; Christina Hager, resource manager; Tyler Johnson, graphic designer; and Hayden Coppenbarger and Tommy Wallace, design engineers. Sponsoring the team are Fat Rat Wrap, Sky-Tec, and Total Equipment and Service.
F1 in Schools is a multi-disciplinary challenge in which teams of students aged 9 to 19 deploy CAD/CAM software to collaborate, design, analyze, manufacture, test, and then race miniature gas-powered balsa wood F1 cars. The challenge inspires students to use technology to learn about physics, aerodynamics, design, manufacture, branding, graphics, sponsorship, marketing, leadership/teamwork, media skills and financial strategy, and apply them in a practical, imaginative, competitive and exciting way.
“Our students have been hard at work preparing for the regional competition,” commented coach Todd Gibson. “this is much more than just a race as students have to build a pit display that shows the ins and out of their project, a lengthy portfolio of their processes in detail, prepare for a verbal presentation, and go through an engineering inspection.”
Project manager Chloe Scroggins stated, “With the wide range of criteria necessary for this competition, F1 in Schools takes many of the concepts from our CTE classes and gives us a way to apply them in a meaningful way. I have experienced firsthand how this competition prepares students for college and life in general with its many real-world applications.”
Last May, a GHS squad – then competing as Team Axium – finished as a semifinalist with the third fastest time in the national contest at the Michigan International Speedway. The Granbury students then combined with a group from Austin Akins High School to form Lone Star Racing for the World Finals, where the combined team won Best Team Identity honoring the group for things such as uniforms, professionalism, and sportsmanship.
