A Need For Speed Team Ignition Heads To Nationals

Intelligent and confident does not begin to describe the four students of Bowen State High School’s F1 team Ignition.

Being one of the world’s most competitive STEM Challengers, F1 in Schools asks students to directly engage with all aspects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in order to create the fastest miniature F1 car.

Practicing real-life engineering and manufacturing skills, including design, analysis, testing, creating and then racing, Bowen State High School’s ‘Team Ignition’ flourished in the recent State Finals.

Having recently been selected to progress to the F1 in Schools National Finals in 2024, Keela Ross, Ella Homewood, Madeline Lean, and Matilda Payne have created and constructed their own miniature F1 car.

For these girls, the design and construction of their F1 car was simple, requiring only a few rudimentary designs and test cars, before they settled on the award-winning solution.

“The cars are just made of bolted wood, but they’re accelerated using a CO2 canister in the back,” explained Matilda.

“We’re very proud of our work, because we know we can deliver a great speed,” said Keela.

Tim Close, Bowen State High School Head of Department, explained that the student’s success is a testament to their determination and hard work.

“This is our second year of student’s making it through to state finals, but we’ve never gone through to nationals. We’re just super proud of them, and the effort that they have gone to is remarkable. These students are going to be successful.”

Team Ignition progressed to the National Finals based upon the speed of their car, as well as the calibre of their portfolio, despite a miscommunication on the page limit of the portfolio.

“The regulations say that the portfolio can only have 10 pages, however we modelled ours of a pro-class portfolio which had 20 pages, so only the first 10 pages of ours were marked,” explained Ella.

“That was only our original and draft designs in those pages, not much of our new content, and that cost us a lot of points, but they gave us the wildcard position to move into the Nationals,” she finished.

“They saw potential in us,” Madeline said.

Confident in their design and now reviewing their portfolio carefully, Team Ignition is ready for Nationals in April 2024, which will see them travel to South Australia.

“The judges recognised their hard work,” explained Tim.

“And they saw your potential. The quality of their work and what they are able to produce was industry standard.”

Team Ignition would like to thank their sponsors for their commitment to their work and promoting their F1 in Schools journey.

The school also wanted to give a massive thank you to the following local businesses for supporting the F1 in Schools Journey in 2023.

Their success to the National Level would not have been possible without their support. Sponsors for 2023 were as follows; Diamond Sponsor – Abbot Point Operations; Platinum Sponsors – Whitsunday Regional Council, Hillery Group and NQ Dry Tropics; Gold Sponsors – Whitsunday Civil Pty Ltd, Lowcock Builders Pty Ltd and Snell’s Electrical; Silver Sponsors – RTM Engineering, Kylie’s Family Dental, Flagstaff Hill Café, Bowen Fisherman’s Seafood and Bird’s Fish Bar; Bronze Sponsors – Bowen Automotive, Core Contracting Services Pty Ltd, Yum Yum Dumplings, Lip’s Kitchen, Dynamic Fitness, Dynamic Chiro and Kevla Coffee.

“We’re very excited to get to Nationals and see how we go,” Matilda said.

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Team Ignition is heading to F1 in Schools Nationals

Competing in State Finals, Team Ignition are proud of their work. Photos supplied