[Racer Duck]

The F1 in Schools competition has moved into top gear as it prepares for the 2008 world championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in just one month’s time. School children from 17 countries across the globe have battled their way through regional and national finals, and competed against over seven million students, to win the chance to represent their countries.

Over three days of enthralling competition from March 18-20, 25 teams will pit their miniature Formula One cars against each other along a 20-metre two-lane track. Last year, winners Team FUGA from Northern Ireland stole the show with a new world record of 1.020 seconds to edge ever closer to the elusive one-second barrier.

The aim of F1 in Schools is to encourage young people to become engineers by creating an enjoyable and exciting environment in which they can experience careers in engineering, Formula One, science, marketing and technology first hand. The challenge is for school children aged 11 to 18 to use CAD/CAM software to design, analyse, manufacture, test and race a 20th-scale model Formula One car made from balsa wood and powered by CO2.

The 2008 world championships will take place in Kuala Lumpur’s Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel in the week leading up to the Malaysian Grand Prix. A total of 25 teams representing their countries will contest the international event as they compete to win the coveted Bernie Ecclestone World Championship Trophy and an Automotive Engineering scholarship at City University, London.

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