A GROUP of Flintshire students broke a national speed record during a Formula 1 education challenge.

F1 in Schools is a popular competition which inspires students to engage in engineering by inviting them to create their own Formula 1 team and a scale-model car, from scratch.

The UK finals for the event was held at Airbus' west factory in Broughton this week and saw a team from Connah's Quay High School take part.

Video by Geoff Abbott

XLR8 - a team of six 13 and 14-year-olds from the school - had the fastest car on track, smashing the UK record with a time of 1.041 seconds, four-hundredths of a second quicker than the previous record held by a Coventry team.

Britannia Red - a team of 13 to 15-year-old students from Robert May’s School, Odiham, Hampshire - were crowned the overall winners and secured themselves a place at the F1 in Schools World Finals 2019.

Andrew Denford, Founder and Chairman, F1 in Schools, said: “I’m blown away - we’ve seen the UK record beaten by nine teams, a tight race on and off the track for podium places with talented UK Champions crowned today at our biggest UK event with over 250 students, held at one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world building the wing for the largest commercial aircraft in the world.

“Airbus has been a very appropriate venue to house the UK Finals of the largest global STEM challenge and we’ve had outstanding hospitality and support from them, with a team of Airbus graduates and apprentices capably hosting our students and inspiring them with their experience of working in the Engineering industry.

“Today we’ve seen an unbelievably high level of work from the F1 in Schools students, with skills that go far beyond the classroom and have enormous value, not only within their school education but in a broader context with increased confidence and life skills that will be invaluable to them in the future.

"My congratulations go to all our teams and I know they are destined to have very successful careers.”