We are always delighted to hear of the achievements of the young people in our area, and so we were very pleased last year to receive an article from Laurence Vines, who has lived in the Bolster Moor Community area of Harts Hole for over thirteen years. Laurence was 14 when he first founded Centurion Racing which designed, built and raced the fastest car in the country in the F1 in Schools competition. Here, in a second article, Laurence gives an update on the further achievements of Centurion Racing:
( You can still read the first article about Centurion Racing, F1 STEM Challenge for schools, in the November 2018 Pdf of Can Can on this website)
Centurion Racing make it through to the World Finals
Centurion Racing has become the first F1 in Schools team from West Yorkshire to make it through to the World Finals which are taking place in Abu Dhabi this November!
I am Laurence Vines. I live locally and I am the Founder, Team Manager and Design Engineer of Centurion Racing. After three years of hard work, competing at a National Level, we have qualified for the World Finals. Along the way the team has become known for innovation and professionalism. In 2018 we won the award for the Fastest Car in the UK and the team has also won awards for the Best Engineered Car and for Innovative Thinking. At the National Finals this year, we were praised for our car having ‘World Class Build Quality’ and for our Enterprise portfolio being the best ever submitted at a UK event.
The F1 in Schools competition is a global STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) challenge with over 17,000 teams competing from 44 countries. This multidisciplinary competition, for young people between the ages of 9 and 19, involves building a miniature F1 car, within the bounds of strict regulations, which is powered by CO2 to race down a 20m track. The teams learn to use CAD/CAM software to design and manufacture their car. There is also a large business element to the competition, with detailed portfolios being prepared by the teams, as well as a verbal presentation, pit display and social media promotion.
We now need to raise funds to develop our entry in line with the new regulations, to help us to achieve our potential and to take a world class entry to Abu Dhabi. We have a good track record – 1.050 seconds to be exact!
We need funds to cover the competition fees, flights to Abu Dhabi and accommodation for the competition as well as the pit display, team uniform and developing the car. We also hope to create a legacy in the local area to help other teams take part in the competition. For example, we raised the money to buy a second hand CNC router to manufacture our car bodies and recently we have bought an F1 in Schools track for testing. Prior to this we made the over 200-mile round trip to the Nissan facility in Sunderland to test our cars. This September we will be hosting an event for children from local junior schools to make their own cars and race them down our track.
You can support Centurion Racing for £2 by purchasing one of our car stickers (please email laurence@centurionracing.co.uk) or making a donation to our GoFundMe campaign (gofundme.com/centurionracingworldfinals). For donations of £500 or more you might want to consider one of our sponsorship packages and join other local companies – Ellie Sax, Aflex Hose, Beaumonts 4×4, Torrington Orthopaedics, Stottercliffe Road Garage, Team Spirit, Yorkshire Made and Gary Gough Photography – and gain exposure at our events and through our social media. Email laurence@centurionracing for details.
Also, the team’s promotional videos have been creating a buzz in the international F1 in Schools community over the past three years. You will soon be able to see our most recent video on the big screen; the Elland Rex cinema will be showing our video before films on the run up to the World Finals, so please watch out for our car on the big screen and support your local independent cinema too!