Renault Square Com is organizing an event today in Boulogne Billancourt, featuring a competition of miniature Formula 1 cars designed and built by students in priority educational sectors. The event is the crowning touch to the equal opportunities project “Courses en Cours” launched in January 2006. Aimed at raising young people’s awareness of top-flight technological sectors, the project was coorganized by the local prefecture, the education sector – Versailles Academy, University of St Quentin en Yvelines and the Inspection Académique des Yvelines – and the companies Renault, Renault F1 Team and Dassault Systèmes.
Since October 2006, 190 middle school and high school students from seven schools have been given introductory training by their teachers, supported by experts in motor sport and digital design. Grouped into 43 teams and coached by students from Mantes Technological University Institute in Yvelines, the youngsters designed their own car in 3D, built it in balsa wood and tested it using professional design and manufacturing software, sophisticated inspection instruments, a wind tunnel and race tracks, working in the same conditions as the engineers of a Formula 1 team. The top 16 teams competed today in the national final, which rewards the teams’ technical innovation and marketing talents as much as their performance in the race.
The victorious team and teacher win a trip to the international final of “F1 in Schools” in Malaysia in 2008, coinciding with the Malaysian Grand Prix. The other prizes, awarded to best-in-category innovation, speed, teamwork, etc., feature tickets to the 2007 French Grand Prix plus visits to Renault’s Formula 1 manufacturing and test sites and to Renault’s “Histoire et Collections” workshops. The prefect of the Yvelines, the rector of the Versailles Academy, the president of the University of St Quentin en Yvelines, the director of Dassault’s PML Academy and the vice-president of Renault F1 Team all attended the awards ceremony.
The “Course en Cours” project, approved by the national education system and France’s urban improvement policy, focuses on tomorrow’s careers in technology and the sciences. It has a two-fold objective:
- raise the awareness of young people from less favored social and cultural backgrounds on industrial technologies and training in the sciences and stimulate their ambition;
- encourage them to choose a vocation, promote higher education and provide the conditions for educational success and easier access to information and experimentation.
The educational success of the project is such that teachers and partners are now working on extending its scope.
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