Kingston College Engineering Apprentices Reach National Finals of F1

Kingston College is celebrating the start of National Apprenticeship Week with the news that Tiro Racing, comprising six talented Engineering apprentices, have beaten off fierce competition at the F1 in Schools Regionals last month to make it to the UK National Finals on 29th-30th March at Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix.

The apprentices represent companies and sponsors from all over the country including Rolls-Royce, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline, Imperial College London, National Physical Laboratory and SMB Bearings. The F1 in Schools Challenge is to ‘Design a better and faster F1 car of the future’ and is the world’s largest multi-disciplinary STEM competition. Alongside creating this car to abide by a stringent set of regulations, teams must create a display and portfolios to exhibit their work, as well as race their car along a 20m drag strip. These elements are scored respectively and the relevant awards are given out on a Regional, National and World level. The dedicated team have high hopes of progressing to the World Finals which will coincide with the F1 Grand Prix Season. The winners of the National competition are also offered half scholarships to study at University College London (UCL).

Hugh Barker- PR Manager / Apprentice at Rolls-Royce “I am extremely excited to be involved in such a unique project to broadcast our team’s ingenuity and innovation to experts in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.”

Alisha Read – Team Image Co-ordinator / Apprentice at Siemens “I am proud to represent Kingston College and our other sponsors on the national stage.”

Joshua Schofield – Team Manager / Apprentice at National Physical Laboratory “Competing in F1 in Schools has taught me so much about aerodynamics, to different manufacturing processes, contacting sponsors to running marketing/social media campaigns. The skills learnt by everyone will have a huge impact on our employability and careers. We have all invested so much into the competition and it would be a dream to become National Champions and represent our country at the World Finals.”

Matthew Watkins – Senior Manufacturing and Testing Engineer / Apprentice at Imperial College London “It has been an amazing experience learning new manufacturing techniques that we can apply to our car and it is fascinating designing and testing our car with parallels to the real world of Formula 1.”

Toby Thomson – CAD and Graphic Designer / Apprentice at National Physical Laboratory “I have thoroughly enjoying learning and developing new skills that I can use both inside and out of engineering and I’m so proud to represent our companies and Kingston College to the rest of the UK.”

George Lawlor – Manufacturing Engineer / Apprentice at GlaxoSmithKline “I have enjoyed learning new skills that I can transfer across to my career in engineering, and I am looking forward to seeing how fast our car is on a National level.

Dean Shearing – Engineering Lecturer at Kingston College “I cannot convey how proud I am of this team in their dedication and commitment to this project.”

For further information and to follow their preparations and share in the build up to this incredible event visit www.tiroracing.co.uk. You can also follow the team’s progress on www.facebook.com/tiroracing and twitter.com/TiroRacing.

The team is looking for sponsorship and has many sponsorship opportunities available. If you would like your company represented on the world stage to 44 different countries get in touch with them at Tiro Racing or email them on [email protected].