Engadine High School’s Fast Payce Racing team has been crowned NSW champions in the Junior Professional Class following a highly competitive State Final in the F1 in Schools Challenge held over two days at Newcastle University last week. The PAYCE sponsored team of Blake Williams (Team Manager), Lukas Foyle (Resources and Research Manager), James Mitreski (Design Engineer) and Sean Sultana (Graphics Designer) contested the State Finals following their victory in the southern Sydney regional final in August. The team now heads off to the National Championships early next year at Penrith and if successful, on to the World Titles in Austin, Texas.
The F1 in Schools Challenge is an international competition open to high school students around the world, in which teams design and build a small scale F1 racing car from a block of balsa wood, using software and sophisticated computerised laser cutting equipment designed for the competition. The teams also use a 3D printer to produce parts such as spoilers and wings to fine tune their design.
The Fast Payce Racing team blitzed the field in this year’s Professional Junior Class, topping 12 of the 14 categories that determine the outright State winner.
The team won awards in the categories for Best Manufactured car, Innovation, Best Graphic Design, Best Reaction Time, Best Team Verbal Presentation, Best Engineered car, Fastest Time, Best Team Portfolio, Outstanding Industry Collaboration and Best Team Marketing.
The team also won the Grand Prix Race and were crowned champions in the separate Knockout competition.
School Principal, Joanne Jarvis said: ”This is a tremendous achievement by the team who have worked tirelessly with their teacher, Mr Treloar, over many months. This brilliant competition enables our students to engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an authentic way with an added competitive incentive.” “We are proud of Engadine High School’s record of success in the F1 in Schools competition, having had two previous teams with the National Title and go on to compete at the international level.“ “PAYCE has provided the team with moral, intellectual and financial support. We are very appreciative of having such a high calibre sponsor for our Fast Payce Racing team.”
PAYCE’s Managing Director, Brian Boyd congratulated the team members on their outstanding result and wished them well in the National titles. “What an incredibly great performance to take out not only the coveted title but practically scoop the pool in the individual awards,” he said. “We are all very excited at PAYCE for them and pleased to be associated with this very talented and dedicated team of youngsters. “They have put in a great deal of hard work and long hours and their efforts have been rewarded,” “Engadine High School is to be applauded for committing to a substantial investment in equipment and resources in recent years to ensure quality learning in the fields of technology and applied studies. “This is the second year that PAYCE has sponsored a team from the school and we were pleased to have the opportunity to continue the relationship with our team from last year as they graduated from the Development class to the Junior Professional class. “Last year PAYCE stepped in at the eleventh hour to provide assistance to get the team to the State Finals where they unfortunately missed out on the main title but picked up some impressive category awards. “Clearly they learnt a lot from that experience and put that knowledge to good use in moving to the higher Junior Professional class and taking out the State title this year.
“Congratulations must also go to Joanne Jarvis, the school’s principal, Ray Treloar, their mentoring teacher, the families and the school community for their encouragement and support,” he said.
“Hopefully the Fast Payce Racing team can follow in the footsteps of fellow teams from Engadine High who represented Australia in the 2012 and 2013 World Finals,” Brian Boyd said.
PAYCE General Manager, Dominic Sullivan added his congratulations and said it had been a pleasure to support the team and the school over the past two years.
“This is a unique competition that involves various social and competition activities where teams learn to manage time and resources effectively, with hands-on experience in a range of fields, including engineering, research, design, marketing and public speaking,” he said. “We admire how hard the team has worked to achieve this great result, with many hours put in during and after school under the guiding eye of their mentor and teacher, Ray Treloar. “Winning the State Finals is testimony to their dedication and enthusiasm,” Mr Sullivan said.
“The result was exceptional and Fast Payce Racing must go into the National Finals as one of the strongest teams and favourites to do well.”.
Engadine High School teams have had great successes in the F1 in Schools Challenge in recent years, with wins in the State and National titles in 2012 and 2013 and the Regional titles for the past three years. As winners of the two National titles, they went on to compete in the World Titles in Abu Dhabi (2012) and Texas (2013) where they placed fourth and fifth respectively against 40 teams from around the world.
Earlier this year, PAYCE arranged a private workshop for the team with one of the leading V8 Supercars teams sponsored by PAYCE – Wilson Security Racing GRM (Volvo Polestar Racing) – where they met the technical and engineering members of the team, including the two drivers, Scott McLaughlin and David Wall.
Brian Boyd said: “That was a great experience and the students were able to pick up some valuable design and engineering pointers and to see first-hand how a professional pit garage is set up and operated.”
