Only two months after competing at the National Finals and one month after the most exciting in-house competition, our teams were preparing for the next event on the F1iS calendar.

The Regional Finals, held at the fantastic Swansea Arena, has been a greatly anticipated event, our teams could be found in the workshop during every breaktime, lunch and after school to ensure their projects were the best they could be. We had a little bit of a hectic start to the day when our laser printer decided to stop midway through printing engineering drawings but by 8 am we were all on the bus to Swansea.

Pits went up without a hitch!  Predator was looking fierce in the Entry Class, Airborne had the interactivity totally covered, whilst the boys in Radeon brought their eye-catching red and black trademark style to the booth. Our Pro team Red Dawn, who had decided to go Pro only 8 weeks after Nationals, had their identity up and running in record time.

Racing went well with all teams winning their races and Radeon and Red Dawn top of the leaderboards in both Dev and Pro Class.

Interviews for both Engineering and Enterprise were an opportunity to show off knowledge, enthusiasm for the project and investigation into their chosen innovations.

Our teams mingled or  “networked”  with other teams and visitors to great effect. We were delighted by many people seeking out staff to say what a credit the teams were to St John’s. 

Nerves were jangling as the teams, accompanied by Firestorm and Blackout, who helped with the event, took their seats in the auditorium.

Would we win any prizes? Who would be the champion?

The teams needn’t have worried

Predator was the overall Entry Class winner with none other than Best Engineered Car, Best Verbal and Lightning Reaction time to add to the trophy cabinet.

Airborne was the overall winner for Dev Class and Best Pit, heading to Nationals to compete.

Radeon achieved second place overall and fastest car, also heading to Nats to compete.

Red Dawn achieved second place Pro overall, winning Sponsorship & Marketing, Best Portfolios, Fastest Car - award to be decided due to all teams in Pro Class breaking performance rules ( oops) and a trip to Nationals in the summer.

Congratulations to all our teams, you truly have embraced all that is F1iS. Good Luck in your preparation for Nats! 

Team Firestorm is still preparing their work for Worlds in Singapore in September, look out for newsletters on their progress in the coming months.

All teams still need support, either monetary or with advice, if you are able to help out at all or just want to find out more about F1 in Schools please get in touch.