Hywel won the Boron Zone in June 2010, here’s how he spent his winnings:
Taking part in I’m a Scientist was a massive learning curve for me, and made me really appreciate not just the value of communication, but also just how cool some of the work other scientists out there are doing is. It made me take another look at what I was doing, and pushed me to go and get involved in more education projects, which the fund helped me develop.
One of these projects is called the Formula 1 in Schools challenge. This is where schools get to enter teams of students who design and build racers that are fired down a track at quite scary speeds! All of this is done with strict guidelines on the shape and materials of the vehicles, and all has to be accompanied with presentations, strict analysis, branding and a whole team feel that is exceptionally challenging. After taking part in IAS I started to get involved with this cause, and helped to judge some of the competitions. The project I worked for (Bloodhound SSC) also set up a new class of racers that children could enter into.
Some of the mini F1 cars raced by school students. Image by Bloodhound SSC
I decided to use the money to help develop some example vehicles for this new class of racer – to show students just how many possibilities there were, and how they could really let their imagination go wild with the design. I decided to look into previous land speed record vehicles, as these have a wide range of shapes and sizes, colours and design features. I also thought I would have a bit of fun, and looked at designs from cartoons such as Wacky Races (hopefully you are not too young to know what that is!).
The £500 went a long way, funding the sketches, cad design, renderings, manufacture and finishing of the cars. It allowed me to turn my crazy ideas into a reality. After sending out the design files for manufacture, and with some tweaking here and there, we ended up with a whole host of vehicles. We took these along to the Farnborough International Airshow where they were tried out by literally hundreds of people, in some cases reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. For me and the team, this was a great success, but nothing compared to what some of the students had done!
Hopefully though, these cars (which will now travel the country to demonstrate the scheme) will perhaps spark the imagination of future competitors. It just goes to show, science is more than just calculations. It takes a little bit of imagination too…
F1 in Schools aims “to provide an exciting yet challenging educational experience”. Image by Bloodhound SSC
