Momentum, an all-girls team competing in the Professional Class of F1 in Schools competition, have been making their final preparations for Australian National Finals that will be held in Melbourne in less than a month’s time. We have been following their journey throughout and are just as excited as the team about these last few weeks of preparation!
Working with sponsors is an amazing and instructional part of Momentum’s journey, and through collaborating with them, they have gained valuable new skills that directly correlate to their future careers. For Nationals 2021, Momentum has been supported by Toyota Australia, Ford Australia, Textron Systems Australia, Garry Rogers Motorsport, Driven Women Magazine and the Hon. Martin Foley, Member for Albert Park and Minister for Health, Ambulance Services & Equality.
“We are extremely grateful that these wonderful people will devote their time to assisting us in this competition,” expressed Agnes, the Team’s Manager.
A major part of the F1 in Schools Project is creating the F1 car and Miranda, Momentum’s Design Engineer, and Saige, their Manufacturing Engineer, have collaborated with Toyota, Garry Rogers Motorsport, and Scottify Designs for Nationals.
Scottify Designs assisted the team with CFD for their car. CFD stands for Computational Fluid Dynamics, which is a term used to describe virtual testing. It puts the car’s design under the pressures it will feel on the actual race track, except in a virtual simulation, and provides information on how the car will perform. Once they have received this feedback, they can go back to their design and make changes as needed.
“Virtual Testing is essential, because without it, we have no real evidence that our car will perform well once it has been manufactured. Thank you so much Scott for working with us on this!” said Miranda.
The F1 in Schools competition allows teams to 3D print parts for their car, in order to maximise its capabilities. For Momentum, these parts included; wheels, wheel support structure, front wing and nose cone, rear pods, and rear wings.
Stefan, the Team Manager for Garry Rogers Motorsport, worked with Miranda on her designs and Saige, in regards to different materials and manufacturing & assembly techniques. This was incredibly helpful, because it meant that they could produce a car that was of the best possible manufactured quality and strength.
In order to machine the balsa wood into the shape of the car, Momentum worked with Toyota. This was essential because as Momentum has no CNC machining facilities, Toyota provided these, and therefore the car could be constructed. Miranda, Saige, and the rest of the team, worked with Toyota to machine the main body of the car, on which all of the 3D printed parts could be attached. Toyota also gave them advice on what design techniques are most efficient, so our design was inspired from some of the components they suggested.
“We are extremely grateful to Toyota for all the advice and support they provided,” said Agnes.
Another big part of the competition is constructing the Trade Display. Angel led this component of the project, as Marketing Manager, with the rest of the team working with her. The Trade Display is a massive task, so they worked with their school, Albert Park College, to manufacture and design their booth. Without the advice and resources the school provided, it would have been almost impossible to manufacture the Trade Display. APC also introduced the girls to the competition, and have been supporting the team since day one, so they truly are their number one supporters.
While Momentum can’t reveal these elements of the project just yet, check out their social media to support them while they get the last elements of the competition done on Instagram and Twitter.
The Australian F1 in Schools National Finals will be held from the 20th to the 29th April, and submissions are fast approaching, so Momentum is currently working harder than ever and want to say a final “thank you to all their sponsors and everyone else who has helped them along the way, this would have been impossible without your support!”
Photographs by Momentum.