An Odiham mum is aiming to raise £25,000 to provide a group of talented young model-makers with a lifetime’s opportunity.
Four youngsters from Robert Mays School at Odiham have been offered the chance to showcase their talents in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in September.
The school’s Team Blur scooped a host of prizes at the F1 in Schools national finals in London earlier this month.
Their miniature Bloodhound SSC speed racer earned Devon Jones, 14, Waldo Olwage, 13, Katie Edwards, 14, and Beth, 13, O’Sullivan the national champions gong in their class.
The 25cm balsa wood racing car, nicknamed ‘Noddy’, was one of four produced by the team. It is powered by a compressed air canister and can cover 20m in half a second.
During the national finals at the ExCeL centre in London, the youngsters were pipped to the overall top spot by a team of 16-year-olds from Essex, who won the competition last year.
But the Odiham topped the Bloodhound SSC class, beating two teams from Bangor and Glastonbury to claim second place overall.
The four brought home a raft of trophies as class winners, for having the fastest car and best team sponsorship.
And the youngsters scooped an invitation to work alongside a Canadian school at the world finals and compete against entrants from 35 other countries.
Team design engineer Devon said: “At the time, it was a little disappointing, but to beat everyone and bring back something was quite an achievement.
“To get the chance to go to Malaysia – that is really exciting and amazing. The whole thing is going to be fantastic.”
He said that every aspect of the cars design – its construction and presentation was done by the team.
They started work 10 months ago, using a computerised milling machine and 3D printer to bring their ideas to life.
So far, they have raised £2,200 towards their 5,557-mile trip to Malaysia, but need to raise even more.
Proud mum Kerryn Harding-Jones said: “I am incredibly proud of the team. I am a little overwhelmed. They are only young and yet managed to beat teams of 16 and 17 year olds.
“It is a daunting task trying to find £25,000. They put in an incredible amount of work and now want to fly the British flag abroad.”
Devon said: “It is a lot of money, but we managed to get this far and there will be no stopping us.”
The F1 in Schools project aims to get youngsters interested in design and engineering.
The team had deal with every aspect of their project. Team management was undertaken by Beth, Katie sought sponsors and Waldo led the graphic design.
Robert Mays School’s head of engineering, Phil Cain, guided the youngsters through the regional and national heats.
If the youngsters win the international finals, they will be awarded scholarships at City University in London.
Andrew Denford, chairman and founder of F1 in Schools, said: “Every year, we see more innovative, more professional and more sophisticated presentations at the national finals and once again the teams have raised the bar.
“We’ve seen the cream of young engineering talent at this year’s finals and I’m sure that many of them will consider a career in industry, which makes me very proud.”
