Rugby students visit the home of Williams FI Team

40 Rugby E and D block students enjoyed a wonderful day visiting the Williams Formula 1 HQ in Wantage, Oxfordshire. The visit included a tour of the Williams Team private museum, containing all the versions of F1 cars that they have built, going back to the first car; some engines and one of Ayrton Senna’s helmets. Many of the cars still race. Other exhibits included a 6-wheeler that was built to try and stay competitive on a much smaller budget than other teams. It never raced though as the FIA found out and banned it. The students got to handle a fuel nozzle, part of the carbon fibre shell, a moulded driver’s seat and George Russell’s steering wheel.
Two groups took part in the simulator racing competition – Emma Besse won one, and teacher Mr Brown came third overall.

In the Composites Stem Challenge students were investigating crumple zones, which tied in with a topic the D-Block had just finished in physics. In teams of five they had to design and test two prototype nose cones before building and testing a final nose cone. The teams were split into designers, manufacturers, a project manager and a finance manager. They had a budget of £100,000 that had to cover all materials, testing and equipment hire. They had to try to improve on their prototype nose cones in their final model and had to present their solution on stage to everyone else before their final model was tested. Team 7 won the challenge and received Williams baseball caps as their prize. All students got a goodie bag at the end of the day to remind them of their visit.

Three Williams’ staff dedicated to the visit activities during the days. One of the Williams team was working on the simulators they analyse the race data on race days and communicates with the drivers in the cars on fuel strategies etc in the esports league.

Mrs Kate Carter – Physics Teacher at Rugby who organised the visit commented,
“The group was a 50:50 split of boys and girls, all of whom had been selected based on a short application stating why they wanted to be part of the trip. The day was aimed at encouraging students into STEM careers – there is a huge shortage of STEM employees in the UK and especially in the number of girls taking up STEM careers. Therefore, days like these are extremely important in showing pupils what is available out there and how they can make a difference. The day also linked in with the physics curriculum and would have been an excellent way for D-Block to experience the application of their classroom studies in ‘real life’.”