St Paul’s students drive towards success

FOURTH year students at a Northside secondary school are hoping they will have the right formula for success when they take part in a national competition.

The students at St Paul’s College, Raheny, are currently involved in the Formula One in Schools Technology Challenge in Ireland.

Two teams of students – Infinity and Team Electra – recently qualified to participate in the regional finals of the competition, which take place on March 2 in Griffith College.

The competition is based on the teams designing, manufacturing and racing miniature compressed air-powered racing cars like a real Formula One team of today.

As such, not only must they use a good deal of technology, research and skill to design and build the cars, but also they must properly promote, market and organise their teams.

This is the sixth year for the competition to run in Ireland under the guidance of the Irish Computer Society (ICS) in partnership with Discover Science & Engineering.

Team managers Paul McMahon and Michael Glynn described the work their respective teams have put in so far to get to this stage of the competition.

“It is amazing what our fellow students at St Paul’s College achieved in such a short space of time,

? they said.

“All team members were motivated and involved constantly over the past few months and we owe them a lot for their level of interest and effort.”

Marketing and communications managers Paul Clarke and Conor Lynch believe the standard of graphical and technical design was outstanding in the preparation of the plans.

“The team really pulled together and made use of their collective talents to really create something special,

? they said.

Currently, both teams are working towards gaining much appreciated sponsorship, fundraising, further developing team image and producing their final car design.

The F1 in Schools National Finals will take place in April.

Visit www.F1inSchools.ie for more information on the Challenge.