Skills Articles

The 2011 ‘F1 in Schools Challenge’ Queensland Championships was held at QMI Solutions on 3 and 4 November 2011.

The ‘F1 in Schools Challenge’ in Australia is run by Re-Engineering Australia Foundation (REA), a not for profit organisation that has joined forces with some of Australia's and the world's leading companies to provide opportunities for young people to access highly skilled, sought-after and in-demand job opportunities in engineering, manufacturing and design.

The ‘F1 in Schools Challenge’ is about raising the profile of engineering and manufacturing careers and addressing skills shortages in these industries with a focus on regional school and industry partnerships.

The program highlights the importance and relevance of studies in science, maths and technology and by participating in the Challenge, students (both boys and girls) as young as 11 years of age master space-age and industry standard technologies to complete enterprise projects. 

Through Queensland Government funding and partnerships with industry, students have access to virtual wind-tunneling equipment, 3D drawing equipment, CNC technologies and replica racetracks to design and test their miniature F1 race cars.

Students then have the opportunity to race their F1 race cars in local, state, national and international competitions.

QMI Solutions hosted 17 schools and more than 100 students at this year’s State finals.  Seven teams from five of the 17 schools were from the Mackay region – a great representation following on from the success of Mirani State High School representing Queensland at the international finals.

Teams are judged in several categories including; Engineering, Portfolio & Pit Display, Verbal Presentation and the Race. The top three teams are then selected to move onto the National Finals.

The winners of the State 2011 finals were:

 As Queensland’s centre of excellence for improving the performance, innovation, capability and skills of Queensland manufacturing businesses it’s fitting that QMI Solutions’ Manufacturing Skills Queensland hosted the 2011 ‘F1 in Schools Challenge’.