Scarborough Students Crowned National Champions in Spectacular Triumph

Scarborough students have won a sensational victory to become UK champions in a tough international challenge.

The team from Scarborough UTC are through to the 2022 world finals in the F1 in Schools competition after scooping three honours and becoming UK champions.

The triumph has been achieved by Scarborough UTC teenagers Missy McArdle, 17, Libby Atkin, 16 and Alex Jenkin, 17, who created a miniature racing car powered by compressed air and scooped the overall award against 15 other schools from around the country.

Their Avidity Racing team sponsored by the Scarborough Business Ambassadors won Best Engineered Car in addition to the national honour in the professional category at the finals held in West Yorkshire.

They will now represent the country in the 2022 world finals of the Formula 1 in Schools competition – and have won work placements with an F1 racing team as well as engineering bursaries.

Missy, the team’s principal and business manager also scooped the top award for Girls on Track UK, a scheme to encourage more female students to consider careers in engineering and in motorsport, where only 2% of females are currently involved.

She was a member of the UTC Formula 1 in Schools team which reached the world finals in Abu Dhabi two years ago.

Missy said:

“The new success hasn’t sunk in yet. We put in hundreds of hours, staying late after school for many evenings but it was all worth it,” .

“We just need to keep stepping it up for the world finals. We’ve spotted some areas of improvement for our car and how we want to re-design it and go again.”

Libby was project manager and Alex was the design and manufacturing engineer. They were all featured in a live recording for YouTube as they reacted with delight at the outcome.

The trio had to create a miniature F1 racing car to speed along a 20-metre track at up to 45mph. This month’s triumph followed victory in the regional heats in July, where they recorded a track time of 1.271 seconds.

Detailed technical, financial and marketing presentations were also assessed by experts from industry and education.

The UTC team was again supported by Rob Shephard, Director of Engineering. 

College principal Lee Kilgour said:

“We could not be more proud of these students - it’s a totally glittering triumph.

“The F1 in Schools is a prestigious challenge that is about presentational and practical skills, project management and all the technical competencies that we teach, as well as their research and design abilities.

“When they represent the UTC and the country in the world finals, they will also be representing Scarborough and the region, reflecting excellence for technical education and a can-do spirit that employers are looking for.”

“We would also like to congratulate Rob who has been a magnificent support for the students throughout.”

Colleges taking part in this month’s UK final in Brighouse were from areas including London, Peterborough, Newcastle, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

More than 40 teams are taking part in the event this year, comprising 227 students from countries around the world. The 2022 world final will take place in spring, with details yet to be announced.

The three UTC students have won work placements at the new racing team Alpine F1 (previously Renault F1) in Oxfordshire and UCL (University College London) Mechanical Engineering bursaries to the value of £5,000.

They also won the newly-designed F1 in Schools UK Champions trophy.

F1 in Schools was established 20 years ago and is the biggest science and technology initiative offered to students. It is linked with the international F1 championship and was founded by Andrew Denford, who runs an engineering facility in West Yorkshire.

Mr Denford said:

“My congratulations go to SBA Avidity Racing for taking the title; they put tremendous effort into their entry. It is a testament to their determination to succeed that they achieved their victory. We’ve seen the cream of young engineering talent at this year’s finals.”