F1 in Schools, Respighi’s miniature racing cars on the podium at Fiorano: two teams in the final

From this year the Respighi Scientific High School in Piacenza is also a stable with two racing team: AMX and Hammer. The Barriera Genova high school participates in the championship F1 in Schools, in which each student team designs a miniature, compressed-air F1-type car to race on a 24-metre straight. “The choice of our school to promote and encourage initiatives such as F1 in Schools – they explain – is motivated by the educational relevance of projects in the STEAM field (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics), by the possibility of developing transversal skills and to orient oneself in complex society we live in. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and Merit has indicated in the National Digital School Plan that “it is necessary to bring children closer to scientific careers in the STEAM field, with particular attention to the gender gap”, to overcome the gender gap, essentially a preponderance of the male component over the female component in technical-scientific careers”.

The boys participating in the project are: Tommaso Apponi, Elia Emanuele Gazzola, Carlo Alberto Perini, Donato Lorenzo Salzillo, Andrea Maria Sassoli, Christopher Leonard Tajani, for AMX, and Francesco Burzoni, Alexandru Cater, Alessandro Morganti, Martina Rocca, Almin Salkic, Noemi Scarico, for Hammer team. The project allowed the kids to take on the role of various high-profile professional figures, engineer, marketing manager, social media manager, designer, team manager, just to name a few. Having passed the qualifying races in Fornovo, the two teams from Piacenza were both called to design a new car, with 3D printed wings and a CNC central body, and the documents that describe the process, the portfolios: project management, enterprise and design & engineering. The semi-final took place on the Fiorano circuit on Saturday 13 April: the teams faced four tests, scrutineering (verification of the car design both with respect to the technical race regulations and with respect to the race car produced), verbal presentation (10 minutes to present each portfolio to the competition judges in English and 10 minutes of questions), racing (the 24 m race to draw up the ranking with respect to the best reaction and running time) e knock out (a head-to-head competition between pairs of cars to award points to the cars that win the most head-to-head battles). “In this second phase the teams – remarked Dal Respighi – were also able to count on the collaboration of ISII Marconi, with which they produced the cars, and of new partners who joined in making this experience unique and extraordinary: thanks to Emerson, Marelli Motorsport, BCC Srl, Confindustria Piacenza, Dachser & Fercam Italia, Teco Srl, SiderPighi, Bussandri, Retelit, Studio Campominosi-Tosi, Consulenza Immobiliare Gazzola and Gas Sales Energia”.

The welcome at the “Ferrari house” was festive, motivating and the boys immediately realized that they would experience an extraordinary day, as protagonists, and so it was. The final ranking saw both city high school teams rewarded: AMX first with 939 points and Hammer team third with 797 points. The Italian final will take place on 16 June in Dallara: the top five teams classified in the first semi-final in Fiorano will compete with the five best teams emerging from the second semi-final which will take place on the Imola circuit on 27 April.

It is possible to follow and support the two teams through the social pages: https://www.instagram.com/amx.f1s?igsh=Ymhudm05c3BjNW5k – https://www.instagram.com/_hammer.team_?igsh=MTZwY2Ixa3dkcHkxOA==. To become a partner of the Respighi team, contact: [email protected]