Maths Trip to Williams F1
On Monday, 40 year 9 pupils attended a maths trip to the home of the Williams F1 team in Oxfordshire, with a view to gaining an appreciation and understanding of how maths is applied in a real-life situation.
After an early 7am coach departure from school, we arrived at Williams F1 ready for our 9am start. The sessions consisted of a brilliant activity that gave pupils an opportunity to understand the maths and engineering formulae applied to the design of an F1 car nose cone. Pupils then designed, tested and built their own nose cone, mimicking the decisions various different departments across the Williams F1 team make on a daily basis. Pupils also had the chance to take a STEM-focussed guided tour of the Williams museum during which they could see cars that have raced in many famous Grand Prix over the years, and gain a basic understanding of Newton’s laws of motion. Every pupil then took part in an F1 e-Sports simulator, racing against each other at 4 different racetracks. All involved had a fantastic day, and we have hopefully inspired the next generation of Formula 1 engineers.