Newsletter Archive

APRIL/MAY 2010

Due to the soccer world cup and the subsequent changes in the schools programmes the National Championship for F1 in Schools will not be held on 4 and 5 June 2010. An alternative date has not been finalised.

Teams can download the latest Rules and Regulation for the World Championships in Singapore from the Rules & Regulations tab.

New teams must please register their team names with Eugene Wilsenach at eugene@f1inschools.co.za in order to check whether the name has not been used before.

Teams wanting to have their cars machined should not leave this till the last minute as the manufacturing centres cannot be rushed.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

FEBRUARY 2010

A new exciting year for Formula 1 in Schools is ahead of us.

On Saturday 16 January 2010 a workshop was held at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Johannesburg. Representatives from all the participating provinces were present and a number of decisions were taken:

1. A forum was established to oversee the arrangements for the provincial and national championships and to assist with communication in the various provinces.
2. The provincial championships will all take place during April and May 2010;
3. The national championships will be held on 4 and 5 June 2010. The venue will be communicated as soon as it is finalized;
4. The winners of the national championships will attend the world championships in Singapore in September 2010.

The members of the forum are:

The list of members of the forum is by far not final and representatives of the tertiary institutions and business will be added in due course.

Participating schools are encouraged to start as early as possible with their preparations for the provincial championships. The four manufacturing centres are:

Teams must download the 2010 Rules and Regulations from the website, www.f1inschools.co.za.

During June 2010 all participating schools will have to re-register for the Solid Edge CAD software. There is no cost involved for the re-registration, however, schools that do not re-register will not have an authorized license for the CAD software they are using and this will result in disqualification at any of the championships. The forms for re-registration will be available on the website during the first week of June 2010.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

Two Race Events were held recently. Beaulieu College had their race event on 13 November with 14 teams participating.

Durban University of Technology had an equally successful race event on 23 November 2009. Seven teams from the second year Industrial Engineering students participated. This will become an annual event and, due to the success the Mechanical Engineering students have already challenged the Industrial Engineering students.

The event at Durban University of Technology also saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the university and Sangari. Mr. Bez Sangari managing director of Sangari SA and Mr. Ranil Singh, acting head of department for Industrial Engineering signed the memorandum.

Sangari SA has signed an agreement with Bid or Buy on behalf of F1 in Schools. According to this agreement F1 in School’s teams will have the opportunity to register with Bid or Buy and sell anything, as long as it is legal. The profit from the sales can then be used to fund the team’s participation in the F1 in Schools challenge.

Bid or Buy is South Africa’s largest online marketplace where sellers and buyers are brought together in a virtual trading place.

More information on this venture will be forwarded to the individual schools.

Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology 2 was launched on 10 November 2009 by Esteq. This version of Solid Edge has many features which teams will find exciting; to name a few, simulations, similar to FEMAP, just more custom made and the virtual testing. The software will be distributed to the schools in due course.

Schools that do not have the hardware to run the newer CAD software should not despair, all the previous versions of Solid Edge is still applicable and teams can fulfil all the F1 in Schools requirements with the same.

A workshop is planned for early in January 2010 for representatives from the manufacturing centres and teachers involved in F1 in Schools in the different provinces. The aim of the workshop is to put together a time line for the vents in 2010 leading up to the World Championships in Singapore in September 2010.

Anyone who would like to make suggestions on the time line can forward it to eugene@f1inschools.co.za

The year is drawing to a close for the education system and, with only a week left of official schooling F1 in Schools would like to congratulate all the learners on their individual and collective inputs and may you enjoy the summer holidays and the festive season. Keep your hands on the keyboards and design the ultimate F1 car for the 2010 racing season.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009

The International Championships was held in London from 14 to 17 September 2009.

Twenty countries, thirty one teams and 145 learners participated in the 5^th World Championships.

Team Koni Kats from Ireland is the 2009 winners followed by Team Redline Racing from Australia and in the third place was AC Racing, a collaborating team from Australia and Canada.

The three teams from South Africa, Team Stealth from Maritzburg College came tenth, Team Zeallous from Stellenbosch High School came fourteenth and the collaborating team, Team Gear-up from Afrikaans Hoërskool Sasolburg came eighteenth.

Team Gear-up, in collaboration with Team Scorpion form Germany participated at the International Championship as Team Double “S” Racing.

The competition was tough and every team had an equal opportunity to win, however there can only be one winner.

Congratulation to the teams; to have participated at the World Championships was an achievement in itself. A big thank you to Mrs. Van Greunen and Messrs. Bosch, Malan and Minnaar, who have accompanied the teams to the World Championships. Without your valued input and sacrifice the teams would not have gone to the World Championships.

All teams should have a look at the time line. (Click here to view.) It is important that teams prepare themselves for the race events and that they participate in as many race events as possible. Only through practice and participation will they qualify to participate at the national championship early in 2010.

New teams must please forward their proposed team name to Eugene Wilsenach at eugene@f1inschools.co.za. This will ensure that the team does not choose a name that has already been used by another team. The team will be notified in writing regarding the use of their selected team name.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009

The International Championships is just around the corner, to be exact, middle of September in London.

The three teams from South Africa, Team Zeallous from Stellenbosch High School., Team Stealth from Maritzburg College and the collaborating team, Team Gear-up from Afrikaans Hoërskool Sasolburg are all ready to go.

Team Gear-up, in collaboration with Team Scorpion form Germany will participate at the International Championship as Team Double “S” Racing.

Team Gear Up and Team Scorpion from Germany.

We wish all three the teams and their guardians, Mr. Ben Malan, Mr. Ben Bosch and Mrs. Heleen van Greunen all the best and a safe journey. A special word of welcome to Hugo Minnaar who will join Team Zeallous as advisor and sponsor.  He is the manager of the Zeallous Racing organization.

A successful CAD/CAM training session was held at Sci-Bono on 25 July 2009. Ten schools were involved with the training and are now also preparing themselves for the next race day which will be held at Sci-Bono.

Zeallous Racing also held a workshop in the Western Cape in collaboration with the College of Cape Town.  There will be another workshop in the near future.  Visit www.zeallous.co.za for more information and photos from previous workshops.

All teams should have a look at the time line. (Click here to view.) It is important that teams prepare themselves for the race events and that they participate in as many race events as possible. Only through practice and participation will they qualify to participate at the national championship early in 2010.

New teams must please forward their proposed team name to Eugene Wilsenach at eugene@f1inschools.co.za. This will ensure that the team does not choose a name that has already been used by another team. The team will be notified in writing regarding the use of their selected team name.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

MAY 2009

Three teams from South Africa are now very busy preparing themselves to compete against the best F1 in Schools teams from all over the world at the International Championship in London from 11 to 19 September 2009.

The teams are:

• Team Zeallous from Hoërskool Stellenbosch

• Team Stealth from Maritzburg College

• Team Gear-up from Afrikaans Hoërskool in Sasolburg.

 Team Gear-up will represent South Africa in collaborating with a team from Germany.

We wish them all of the best in their endeavour to raise the necessary funding for their trip to London and their preparations for the championship.

Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology is now available for teams participating in the 2009/10 season. Each school has to register every year to participate in the F1 in Schools Challenge. This registration is compulsory to be eligible to use the CAD/CAM software. Schools that have paid the initial registration fee do not have to pay again when registering every year – this is only to supply the software company with the information on legally registered software being used at schools.

Schools should complete the registration form, which is available on the website and forward it to info@f1inschools.co.za.

Upon receipt of the registration form the Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology software will be shipped to the school. The academic license will be valid for one year, July to June.

Teams are also encouraged to have a look at the 3D printing technology. Click on the Rapid 3D logo on the website.

Earlier this year Sangari promoted F1 in Schools at the A1 event. Education Southern Africa wrote a article in their magazine. Click on the picture to see a full screen image of the article. Thank you again to all the schools that attended the day.

Eugene Wilsenach

National Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge

MARCH 2009

The National Championships was a great success and all the participating teams have enjoyed themselves. The event took place at Kyalami Race Track on 5 and 6 March 2009.

The sixteen teams that participated are:

Aeroblaze, Fusion, Gear-up, Gravitas, Ignition, Jamaican Cars, Smiley, Speed, Spitfire, Statistix, Stealth, Tornado, Twixe, Vendetta, Unbreakables and Zeallous.

THE RESULTS:

Congratulations to all the teams that participated! Every team that made it to the national championships is a winner.

The 2009/10 F1 in Schools Challenge season has now officially started and teams are urged to start designing their cars as soon as possible and send them to the manufacturing centre of their choice. Manufacturing engineers must take note that the manufacturing procedure and forms are changing to give teams more options with regards to the machining of the cars. Teams will also be issued with a manufacturing certificate, which need to be handed in at every race event. This will prevent teams from using the same design and cars for more than one event.

There were so many people taking photos at the national championships. Please send your photos to be placed on the website. This is after all your competition. Click on the gallery icon on the left navigation bar to see the photos that are already uploaded or click here.

If you as a team needs help with the competition or want to share your experience with other teams, feel free to contact Zeallous Racing. For more information and photos go to www.zeallous.co.za.

Eugene Wilsenach
Coordinator – F1 in Schools Challenge