FOUR teams from St Munchin's College have signed up to participate in the fourth ‘F1 in Schools Technology Challenge’, an annual competition sponsored by Honda.

Students will be required to make an aerodynamic model F1 car which will be raced against other schools in the regional finals in March and the national final in April.

Two of the teams include Team SoundBreaker, managed by Colin Higgins andTeam Das Uber Auto, managed by Dale Parish.

Some members of Team SoundBreaker explained why their school chose to enter the Honda F1 in Schools Challenge.

"We entered the Honda sponsored F1 in Schools Challenge because we are all interested in designing and engineering,” said team member, Evan while fellow member, Eoghan, added that they “have a great team with loads of ideas and are looking forward to the qualification stage".

All of the teams will be required to submit a five page plan explaining how they will go about putting their model F1 car together along with their proposed ideas, research, budgets and marketing plans should they qualify for the regional finals.

Once a school team has qualified they will receive a kit, which includes balsa wood for making the model, and free free computer design software.

Ongoing support will be offered and the school will be paired with a Formula 1 Make Centre—a local college or university—with the necessary equipment for milling the models.

The ‘F1 in Schools Challenge’ is an international competition, which now attracts more than 90,000 entries from across the world.

The winning car will be judged on design, speed and the school team's full project presentation and the overall winning team at the international finals, due to be held in London in March 2009, will receive stunning prizes, including The Bernie Ecclestone Trophy and a three year full scholarship to study Motorsport and Automotive Engineering at City University London.

Visit www.f1inschools.ie for more information.