Oakridge College learners lap up victory
The six learners, Nathan Braude, Jaden Verbeek, Kaitlin Govender, Riley Morgan, Shane Baruth and Anata Dlamini who were part of team 'Sixth Gear' won six of the seven races on the day and also conquered in the final round with the fastest times recorded.
OAKRIDGE College celebrated success at the Mahle F1 in Schools Challenge at the Pavilion Shopping Centre last week winning the fastest car award on the day.
The challenge, which is an international competition, brings together learners from primary and high schools from around the country and requires them to set up their own Formula 1 team and run it as a mini-enterprise project. Each member of the team is given a specific job responsibility which includes managing budgets, marketing and branding, sourcing sponsorship and designing, manufacturing and racing a miniature Formula 1 car.
The six learners, Nathan Braude, Jaden Verbeek, Kaitlin Govender, Riley Morgan, Shane Baruth and Anata Dlamini who were part of team ‘Sixth Gear’ won six of the seven races on the day and also conquered in the final round with the fastest times recorded.
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The budding engineers who raced their miniature F1 cars down a 25-metre long track and who won the ‘fastest car’ award said they were proud of their achievements.
Oakridge College learner, Anata Dlamini, who was the team manager, said she was extremely proud of her fellow teammates.
“I think the other high schools did incredible jobs with their cars and pit displays. Initially having seen their work when we arrived on competition day I didn’t think we would do well. I felt their designs looked better, aesthetically, however I was incredibly proud of what we achieved. We worked hard and I feel we got our just reward even though we didn’t win overall I thought we performed exceptionally,” Dlamini said.
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Aroon Patel of Young Engineers Durban who helped inspire the school to enter the competition said he wanted to high-five the team every time they won a race.
“I was really proud of all the learners. I was one of the judges on the day so I couldn’t show an bias to any of the schools involved but every single time they won a race I wanted to high five them. Overall the competition was a huge success and I felt overall, Oakridge College had the best paint jobs of the composite cars, in terms of colours and neatness. I hope this inspires and excites learners to look at the field of engineering and we may see another Oakridge College team triumph at next year’s competition,” he said.
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