Denbigh High School stepped in at the eleventh hour to offer its facilities to host the regional finals of the national F1 in Schools’ competition, when organisers said the event would have to be postponed due to the recent bad weather.

The North Wales regional finals were due to take place at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, with the winning team going through to the national finals at Silverstone on the 20th March 20.

Denbigh High has previously enjoyed success in the competition with all-girl team Tachyon winning awards at the World Finals in two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016.

Taking up the challenge this year was the all new team Quantum, comprising year 8 students Hollie Lloyd, Zara Addis, Libby Chapman, Melissa Gizzi, Tom Fishwick and Tom Morgan.

Gareth Jones, subject leader of Design and Technology at Denbigh High School, has been involved with the F1 in Schools competition since it was introduced at the school some years ago.

He said: “The F1 in Schools challenge is a brilliant way of enabling students to engage with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. As a school we recognise the importance of providing our students with every opportunity to develop their skills in these subjects and learn about the exciting careers available in these areas.”

Around 15 high school and primary school teams competed in the regional finals, with different levels of competition for each category.

It was another success story for Denbigh High. Team Quantum won first place overall in the Professional Class and also scooped three other awards: The Team Identity Award, The Innovative Thinking Award and The Fastest Car Award.

Mr Jones added: “I am so impressed with the team who have shown dedication, professionalism and real talent, coming up with brilliant ideas. They are still very young and were up against teams of students from year 10 and 11 so they have done incredibly well to win first place. I am very proud of what they have achieved.”

Hollie Lloyd, Tteam manager, said “We are all so thrilled for getting through to Silverstone and can’t wait to gain more from this amazing opportunity and see what is waiting for us at the Nationals.”

Zara Addis, Resources Manager, added “None of this would have been possible without the help of our sponsors and professional partners – NHC, Gamlins Solicitors, Crime Prevention Services, ESW, Tee Jac, Shiny Memories, Crab Engineering, GRW, Fairway Graphics, Principle Engineering and Blackham Transfers.”

The challenge requires the students to follow the same methods as real Formula One teams, from making a business plan through to the actual car design.