Gateshead School team crowned GT in Schools UK National Champions 2011

15 March 2011.../G‑MAC, a team of four students from Emmanuel College, Gateshead, celebrated winning the GT in Schools Sports Car Challenge at the Big Bang Science Fair in London today.

The Jaguar‑supported educational initiative drew the very best of budding design engineering talent. With a high standard of entries the panel of expert judges from the automotive industry and from within education had a tough task to select a winning team. G‑MAC impressed the judges in their approach to the task of designing, building and racing a GT car. The judges particularly praised the quality of the presentation of their work, both verbally and in a written portfolio. The team also won the Best Sales and Marketing Award with a well presented sales brochure and marketing strategy.

The team of students: Georgia Banks, Megan Peterson, Andrew Cooper and Jack Collier, had worked tirelessly on the project and were delighted to be rewarded with the top prize for their efforts. Megan Peterson from G‑MAC said: "It's been great to come away with the beautiful Jaguar trophy. We didn't think we'd win as all the entries were so good. I think we impressed the judges with our design, our professional approach and our teamwork. It's been hard work to do this challenge, but winning it has definitely made it worthwhile."

Les Ratcliffe, Head of Community Relations for Jaguar Land Rover, said of the GT in Schools National Finals: "Each year we see some excellent work from these very talented students. All the teams demonstrated an excellent understanding of the challenges faced in design engineering within the automotive sector and appreciate the enormous amount of work that goes into developing a new car.

"There are many parallels that can be drawn from the processes that the students use in this challenge and those which we employ in creating our award‑winning Jaguar cars; I hope that we will see some of these students consider a career in the automotive industry as there are many bright young talents here who can help us to ensure a healthy future for the sector."

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools, commented: "GT in Schools is an excellent initiative for students to put into practice many areas of design and technology taught in school. This year's finals has drawn together student teams with great ideas, stylish design and innovative engineering approaches that have impressed our judges. Congratulations to G‑MAC on their success and to all the competitors for the effort they put into their entries."

Five other teams won awards at the National finals. Runners up to G‑MAC were the Jaguar Land Rover First Year Apprentices from Jaguar Land Rover, Gaydon, who also won the Apprentice Class and Best Engineered Car Awards. The third placed GT Team was Elite from St Bede's Catholic Comprehensive School, Sunderland, who also won the Fastest GT Car Award, with their car racing along the 20 metre test track in 1.198 Seconds. The Best GT Design Award was taken home by Richard Hale Racing from Richard Hale School, Hertford and the Innovative Thinking Award was won by Hybrid from Little Lever School, Bolton. A second team from the winning Emmanuel College, Team Burn, took the Best Sketch award.

The GT in Schools Sports Car Design Challenge is aimed at students aged from 11‑18 years (Key stages 3‑5) and young apprentices in industry, challenging them to form teams to design, build and race a model GT sports car, closely following the real life process that engineers in automotive companies such as Jaguar Land Rover follow including sketching, modelling, analysing and testing as well as racing.

GT in Schools brings to life the real world of engineering for young people and encourages them to consider engineering as a career. The design challenge has received an excellent response from schools throughout the country, with students enjoying being able to apply their curriculum learning in a fun and competitive environment.

2011 GT in Schools Award winners

GT in Schools National Champions
G‑MAC ‑ Emmanuel College, Gateshead

2^nd placed GT Team
Jaguar Land Rover First Year Apprentices ‑ Jaguar Land Rover, Gaydon

3^rd placed GT Team
Elite ‑  St Bede's Catholic Comprehensive School, Sunderland

Apprentice Class
Jaguar Land Rover First Year Apprentices ‑ Jaguar Land Rover, Gaydon

Best Engineered Car 
Jaguar Land Rover First Year Apprentices ‑ Jaguar Land Rover, Gaydon 

Fastest GT Car Award
Elite ‑  St Bede's Catholic Comprehensive School, Sunderland (1.198 Seconds)

Best GT Design
Richard Hale Racing ‑ Richard Hale School, Hertford

Best Sketch
Team Burn ‑ Emmanuel College, Gateshead

Innovative Thinking
Hybrid ‑ Little Lever School, Bolton

Best Sales and Marketing
G‑MAC ‑ Emmanuel College, Gateshead

Ends

Picture shows: G‑MAC ‑ Emmanuel College, Gateshead, 2011 GT in Schools Sports Car Challenge UK National Champions. From left to right: Jack Collier, Megan Peterson, Georgia Banks, Andrew Cooper.

For further information on GT in Schools and high resolution images contact:

Alison Hill
Press Officer, GT in Schools
Tel: 01327 856060
Alison@id‑pr.co.uk

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