Banagher College reach Formula One national final

Banagher College"s Formula One Team 'Ridge Racers' are the only Offaly team through to the national finals of the prestigious science and technology schools competition. Over 50 school teams from seventeen different counties battled it out to qualify for the remaining 17 places in the National Final of 'F1 in Schools Technology Challenge' to take place at Griffith College Dublin on April 28. the Ridge Racers team is made up of six Transistion Year students, Daniel Smith, Stephen Quirke, Michael Brophy, Simon Lyons, Rory Wynne and Dylan Moran. Using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create virtual 3D models of racing cars, the teams collaborated with third level F1 Make Centres on their manufacture. The colleges used their special milling equipment to convert the teams" designs into real model Formula 1 racers. The cars, measuring about 25cm and made of balsa wood, can exceed speeds of 70kmph. In addition to racing head-to-head, the competing teams were judged on the quality of their engineering, marketing, graphic design and resource management portfolios, fund-raising activities and on a verbal presentation of their work. The winning team will go on to represent Ireland in the World Championships to take place in 2010 and compete against 27 other countries from around the world. Winning teams will also be presented with cash prizes to be put towards computers in their schools. The F1 in Schools Technology Challenge is powered in Ireland by Honda, organised in Ireland by Irish Computer Society and supported by Discover Science and Engineering.