The Cotswold School Car Challenge

Last week, 24 Year 9 Design and Technology students were invited to take part in a car challenge, supported by former student Ralph Dale who now works for Maclaren Formula One Team.

In teams of four, pupils were set the challenge to successfully race their toy figure driver around the tailor-made track. Sounds simple, however, there were obstacles to negotiate, the figures were not allowed to be strapped in, and the cars provided didn’t actually have any wheels!

Ralph flew in from Bahrain on the morning to give a helping hand to the pupils who had to design and build their cars, test them for strength and stability, and then prepare them for the series of races to decide the overall winners.

Teams worked well during the planning and manufacture, with some very innovative car designs produced. Each team had a chance to race against everyone else, with racing competitive and mostly fair! The overall winners were ‘Team Banana’, who won every one of their races and recorded the best time, winning exclusive gift bags from Maclaren.

Well done to everyone that took part and a huge thank you to Ralph for all of his support.