Nam Phong Racing STEAM ahead at F1 in Schools World Finals 2018

The results of the much-anticipated 2018 F1 in Schools World Finals are in! We are excited to announce that Nam Phong Racing, consisting of 5 BIS HCMC students have returned home as the most successful team to have ever represented Vietnam in the world's largest educational STEAM initiative. The team were awarded the ‘Best Team Website’ trophy, Jimin Oh secured a place at the Unilever Williams Engineering Academy and they developed the 22^nd fastest miniature F1 car in the world. Let’s find out more…

Back in September 2017, our students were challenged to design, construct and race the fastest miniature Formula 1 car of the future. Almost one year later, and after hundreds of hours of hard work, Nam Phong Racing were ready to showcase their car to the world at the F1 in Schools World Finals 2018 held in Singapore. Day 1 saw Nam Phong Racing join 50 teams from countries and collaborations all over the world for the start of 3 days of intense competition. 

Day 2 was the official opening ceremony and pit display build. The team managed to build their pit display in less than 2 hours which would form the basis of their enterprise judging. In the pit display hall, the team also had the chance to practice their reaction times and visit other teams’ booths to check out the competition. The level of creativity and effort put in to the 51 pit displays in the room was astounding.

Day 3 was a particularly busy day for Design Engineer Victoria Fethke and Manufacturing Engineer Jimin Oh as they led the team through the engineering judging and scrutineering review to see if their car had met all the regulations. The team also had an Autodesk session, verbal presentation and their very first race on the F1 in Schools track! The team were pitted against Drive, a student team from Wales. Tensions were high but Nam Phong Racing came out on top and won all 4 of their races!

The next day the team had their second race against a team from Germany; Polaris. Unfortunately, the reaction time of the German team was just too quick for Nam Phong Racing. This day of the competition also saw the team undergo enterprise judging. A core element of the F1 in Schools challenge is to raise sponsorship using key marketing and business development strategies. The judges were extremely impressed with many elements of the team’s enterprise portfolio and commended them on their approach to raising awareness of F1 and F1 in Schools in Vietnam.

Day 5 saw the team do a live interview with F1 commentator Crofty. They had a minute to introduce and explain their pit display and even managed to get Crofty doing the iconic Nam Phong Pose.

This was also an exciting day for Year 13 student Jimin Oh as she attended the Unilever Williams Engineering Academy Assessment. The Unilever Williams Engineering Academy is designed to identify young and talented engineers. This educational programme was open to all participants at the F1 in Schools World Finals with only 9 being chosen to be part of the academy. Our congratulations go to Ji Min Oh who secured a place in the academy, offering her a head start in this competitive job market.

Jimin Oh is the second BIS HCMC student to be accepted into the Williams Engineering Academy as she follows in the footsteps of Class of 2017 student Steve Ko who attended the World Finals with his team Doppler Racing.

On Day 6, the team had some downtime in the morning to head to Universal Studios with some of the other F1 in Schools teams. Following this exciting morning, the team were ready for the Awards Ceremony. The VIP reception meant the team had the opportunity of meeting renowned industry figures such as Chase Carey, CEO of Formula 1.

The team nervously awaited the results of the competition but were ecstatic to find out that they had won the Best Team Website award and were shortlisted for Best Team Identity! They also found out that they ranked 22nd overall in the final results with the 22nd fastest car, the highest place ever achieved by an F1 in Schools team from Vietnam!

The final days in Singapore saw the team head to the Marina Bay street circuit in preparation for the Singapore Grand Prix. The team had exclusive access to the engineering garages with Jimin and Mr Roberts having special VIP access to the Williams Racing garage following Jimin’s acceptance into the Williams Engineering Academy.

F1 in Schools requires students to apply abstract skills and knowledge that they've acquired in the classroom to solve real-life problems in a creative manner. This has undoubtedly provided these 5 students with an insight into the real world of design, engineering, budgeting and marketing, shaping them into collaborative and innovative global citizens.

Every member of the team should be congratulated for their participation in the F1 in Schools World Finals. They have experienced successes and learned from their mistakes, they have worked creatively together and embraced collaboration. Nam Phong Racing displayed all the hallmarks of what it takes to succeed in the 21st Century and had a great experience competing and representing BIS HCMC and Vietnam.

We hope you will join us in congratulating Nam Phong Racing – Jonathan, Jasmine, Victoria, Juha and Jimin on their incredible achievements in the 2018 F1 in Schools competition.