On Friday 9th June our 2019 F1 in Schools team Nam Phong Racing, who will be representing Vietnam in the Abu Dhabi World Finals this November, successfully hosted the second BIS Grand Prix event.
Following the success of last year’s Grand Prix, the team this year were able to expand the event to primary and secondary students aged 9-12 from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Cambodia. This brought together 60 students from international schools across South East Asia creating the first ever international BIS Grand Prix event.
The aim of the event was to introduce students in Vietnam and Cambodia to the reputed global educational initiative - F1 in Schools. Throughout the event, Nam Phong Racing arranged a wide range of activities to mimic the real F1 in Schools competition.
Students were tasked with designing and manufacturing the fastest miniature F1 car possible, emulating the design and engineering processes employed by real F1 racing teams.
Teams of four to six students from each school were allocated different roles according to the needs of the team, i.e. Team Manager, Graphic Designer, Manufacturing Engineer and Design Engineer; just like in a real F1 in Schools team. Each team was tasked with designing a team logo to establish their team identity using their creativity to create fitting visuals with intriguing colour schemes.
Teams were also tasked with designing their own efficient aerodynamic F1 cars which would race against each other in the head to head elimination rounds. These engineers created their own F1 cars using laser-cut paper nets.
They finished their cars with unique logos and incorporated stickers of all Nam Phong Racing's sponsors such as Mercedes, Sunlife and Milo. Each team sent their teammate with the fastest reaction time to the race track. The finishing time of the cars was determined by the effective aerodynamic design of their car as well as the racer’s reaction time. In this competition, there was only a 0.117s difference between first place and last place!
Awards were available not only for those who had the fastest car but included those with the best pit display and best team identity.
1st Fastest Car - ABCIS
2nd Fastest Car - BIS Primary
3rd Fastest Car - BIS Secondary
Best Team Identity - Northbridge Cambodia
Best Pit Display - BVIS HCMC
As the aim of the event was to actively engage students in STEAM activities, no school was left empty-handed. Each team was awarded a STEAM pack which included memorable challenges to complete at home.
The F1 in Schools Team Lead, Mr Greg Roberts said of the event, “The BIS Grand Prix celebrated all things STEAM and it connected schools from different communities and countries through the F1 in schools programme. The fun and friendly competition in the event gave the students such delight as they watched their own designed race car speed down the track in under one second. I would like to thank all the students, teachers, staff and sponsors who made this possible.”
Nam Phong Racing's sponsors were also invited to experience the F1 in Schools Competition first-hand and see the team's successes and progress thus far. We were pleased to welcome Ms Vu Thi Quynh Phuong from Mercedes, Everest Education, Milo, Scivi Travel and Sunlife. Each of the sponsors was given a thank you trophy as an expression of gratitude from the team.
Through the BIS Grand Prix, the team hopes that it will motivate the next generation of innovative pioneers to take on the F1 in schools competition. The team also hopes that this will create a more competitive field in Vietnam and that the level of performance of all the future teams will increase remarkably.
101 Thao Dien Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Junior Campus
225 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Secondary Campus
246 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
