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 Lumpurs 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.
Malaysia won the right to hold this years championships following the growing commitment to F1 in Schools from the Malaysian Ministry of Education. "We are honoured that F1 in Schools has chosen Malaysia as the host of the world finals,” said Minister of Education, Dato Sri Hishammuddin Hussein. “Malaysia is a growing motorsport nation, and we hope that having such a high profile, youth orientated, motorsport event in Malaysia, alongside our Grand Prix weekend will generate widespread interest both locally and in other Asian countries."
Andrew Denford, founder and Chairman of F1 in Schools Ltd, expressed his delight ahead of the world championships. "Malaysia is the first country to adopt F1 in Schools into the national curriculum and new initiatives in teaching and learning and is therefore the ideal host for the 2008 world championships. Last years world championships in Melbourne, Australia were an amazing success, and this year we hope for an even greater level of competition between the teams.”
The F1 in Schools competition has grown year on year since its birth in 2000, with over 50,000 teams and 20 million students taking part around the globe.
