Three Awards For Irish Teams At F1 In Schools Final

Bardahl Racing Flew The Flag For Ireland

With all attention turned to the upcoming United States Grand Prix and the myriad of driver changes leading up to the race, the F1 In Schools World Final went relatively unnoticed.

The competition began in the UK in 2001 and soon spread to an international stage, now hosting teams from over 40 countries with 20 million students participating annually. It challenges the students to design, build and race miniature F1 cars and race them along a 20m test-track.

The World Finals were held this week in Austin, and resulted in the Australian based team, A1 Racing, coming out on top. The team trumped 37 other teams including an Irish team, Bardahl Racing, and the Irish/Australian team, Odyssey. Although the Irish envoy failed to make it to the podium position, neither team returned home empty-handed.

Bardahl Racing, which is composed of students from St. David’s School in Co. Wicklow, won the Irish National Finals in May and scooped the award for ‘Best Engineered Car’ in Austin yesterday. Odyssey, which features several students from Donabate Community College won both the ‘Best International Collaboration’ award and came out on top in the ‘Best Design Portfolio’ category.

Overall, Odyssey placed 6th in the World Championships, while Bardahl Racing were close behind them in 10th.

Comhghairdeachas buachailli!

Preparations Underway For Cork Grand Prix Anniversary Event

With the Gathering in full swing around the Island of Ireland, there’s yet another reason to take a trip to the Emerald Isle.

Declared the ‘Monza of its day’, County Cork in the south of Ireland played host to a Grand Prix in 1936, 1937 and 1938. The 1938 round, attended by big names such as Maserati and Bugatti, drew up to 70,000 petrol heads to Carrigrohane. Now, the Munster Vintage Motor Cycle & Car Club have organised a special comemeration event scheduled for June 22nd and 23rd of this year.

The three lap re-running will be held on almost exactly the same layout as the Grand Prix 75 years ago with up to fifty classic sports cars from before 1950 on show.

Although Formula One itself was not set up until 1950, the Cork Grand Prix was held as part of a series of races which also took place in  Crystal Palace and Brooklands, England; Pau, France; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

For more information about the race, check out their website, here http://www.corkgrandprix.com/home/

Image courtesy MVMCCC.