Harlem team heads to world F1 model car race

A Harlem High School team is one of three in the nation headed to Austin, Texas, this month to compete for the honor of being crowned F1 in Schools world champion 2016.

Going to the event is the result of the Harlem team, which formed less than two years ago, building a balsa wood Formula One race car model then racing it in competitions.

The Harlem United team comprises team manager Jazzamyn Benson, design engineer Damon Adams, manufacturing engineer Darrius Kulbeck, marketing and social manager Terron Gray, graphic designer Denise Stanley, resource manger Adrian Kulbeck and support staff member Hunter Gray. The team advisors are Craig Todd and Briayan Flores.

Todd said the community is planning a major sendoff when the team heads to Billings to then fly to Austin Friday morning.

"We are the very first Montana team to qualify for nationals and worlds and the first Native American team to qualify for worlds," he said.

He said live feeds during the competition will be available on YouTube, and the team will put up videos as well.

"Well be posting stuff as we go, too," he said.

"When we started F1, I never imagined that we would be competing at the world level," Adams said in a press release. "I am looking forward to meeting other competitors from around the world and having a good time with our team."

To reach the competition in Austin, the Harlem United team has competed for the last two years, including winning back-to-back state championships and placing third in the national competition. They spent some of their summer raising funds for the $39,000 cost to attend to the national competition, slated for Oct. 16-19 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Austin. Harlem United will be one of 39 teams from 26 countries at the competition

After all the competition, the students will take a trip to Circuit of The Americas for a pit lane walk and the opportunity to attend the 2016 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

Todd said any team that wins an award gets to spend four hours with the Formula 1 team that sponsored the award.

In F1 in Schools, students create their own Formula One team which is commissioned to design, construct and race the fastest miniature Formula One Car of the Future, a 21-cm long scale model built from the F1 in Schools modelling block and powered by a compressed air cylinder. Each team of between three and six students creates a 'pit' display and showcases their work in developing their race car. At the World Finals each team brings along a pit display, marketing plan, their cars and portfolio, as well as having prepared a 10 minute verbal presentation for the judges. The cars race on a 20-meter - about 22-yard - track, with the cars covering the distance in around one second.

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Online: Harlem United website: http://www.harlemunitedmt.com

Harlem United Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/harlemunitedmt