Pupils design cars for classic race game competition

A competition to design cars for a well-known motor sports game has got a new generation of youngsters revved-up about design and technology.

The Scalextric4Schools competition at Silverstone Museum brought together 20 teams from 11 schools.

Northgate High School in Ipswich and Elizabeth Woodville School in Northamptonshire took part in the UK-wide competition which saw pupils designing and racing their own cars.

Despite neither of the two schools winning the competition, pupils said the experience had been fun.

Finley attends Elizabeth Woodville, in Deanshanger, and got involved with the competition through his design and technology (DT) class.

"There's a Scalextric club centred around DT, so I decided to join it. I just found it really fun," he said.

Finley explained his car design: "The reason why it's good is because it has a rocking gimmick on the front wheels that allows it to go round corners really well."

Meanwhile, Will from Northgate High had added magnets to the bottom of his vehicle, to keep it firmly on the track.

Like all the pupils, his group used software to design their car before building the chassis with a 3D printer.

"Then we went onto the body," he said. "We started off with cardboard and wood prototypes, and then we went onto find that using Styrofoam was probably the lightest material, then we put some glass fibres on to make it more rigid.

Reflecting on the competition, WIll said: “It kind of gives you some space to think, as well as something to do, away from the (phone) screen."

Mike Pearce, head of DT at Elizabeth Woodville, said the competition had taught pupils a lot of skills.

"They've just been so focussed and engaged," he said.

"The driving is a small part of it, but they’ve learnt everything about computer-aided software which is going to help them with their GCSE.

"It has basically kept them off their phones every week when we meet."

Simon Hooker, of Bishops Blue Coat High School in Chester, spent three years re-launching the competition, to offer children post-Covid, "something practical and hands-on", and away from online gaming.

"It's something to do in the real world and not virtually," he said.

"We’ve got designers from Scalextric here, giving them feedback on their own designs.

"And just looking at the pupils here today, they’re fully engaged, they’re fully excited by it."

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