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Race for the Line National Finals at Royal Air Force Wittering

RAF Wittering hosted a national event called Race for the Line run by The Learning Partnership, for year 7 students at schools across the country, and supported by the Armed Forces; it’s aim is to inspire children to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.

The event was the final of 3 stages, which incorporated all schools from over the country, when it started it had up to eighty thousand participants and over sixteen thousand teams. Stage 1 and stage 2 were hosted on a local level and the winners would compete against the each other in the final hosted at RAF Wittering. Over sixty teams from schools across the country created micro-dragsters and competed against one another to see whose was the fastest.

Winners, Littlehampton Academy in Sussex
Winners, Littlehampton Academy in Sussex

The winning team was from the Littlehampton Academy in Sussex, their car achieved an actual speed of 66.1 miles per hour. David Flowers is a teacher of design, technology and science at the school. Speaking of his year seven team:

“It takes a massive amount of thinking and hours of engineering and practice, it’s an inspiring challenge, and I’m very proud of them.”

David Flowers
Teacher of Design, Littlehampton Academy in Sussex

Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex overlooks the final races.

Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex is RAF Wittering’s Honorary Air Commodore, she met with the school teams and watched the final races. Her Royal Highness is also the Ship’s Sponsor for HMS Daring, and today’s event was strongly supported by the Royal Navy STEM team.

Aulden Dunipace is Chief Executive of The Learning Partnership.

“Without support from the tri-forces this year, and particularly the RAF, we would not have been able to deliver the competition. Seventy-eight thousand students in year 7 built rocket cars and raced them across their playgrounds, we ran four-hundred qualifying race events through the forces. It’s just a great partnership.”

Aulden Dunipace
Chief Executive of The Learning partnership

 

Between races the school teams were treated to a series of static aircraft displays and air displays, beginning with the Grob Tutor piloted by RAF Wittering’s Flight Lieutenant Andy Sell. Then in a cloudless sky a Spitfire, an RAF Typhoon and the Red Arrows gave the captivated audience a series of breath-taking aerobatic manoeuvres.

Wing Commander Craig Watson is the principal engineer at Royal Air Force Wittering.

“Today we’re very privileged to be hosting the final of Race for the Line. STEM is really core to the RAF, innovation and science have been a huge part of everything we’ve achieved over the last hundred years. By making science and engineering accessible, and by inspiring them, children can see brilliant possibilities for their futures.”

Wing Commander Craig Watson
Principal Engineer at RAF Wittering