Last term, the students in our Motorsports Club have been putting their engineering minds and creative talents to the test in a high-speed design challenge: creating their very own race tracks! Inspired by famous circuits from around the world - such as Mount Panorama, Silverstone, and Monza - students researched real-world track layouts before designing their own unique versions.

Using A3 paper and a whole lot of imagination, students sketched out twists, turns, chicanes, and pit lanes, considering both the visual appeal and the functionality of their tracks. The goal was to create a course that would challenge model cars while staying true to the spirit of motorsport.

Once designs were finalised, the real fun began - testing them! Students raced their tracks with battery-powered model cars across their paper-built circuits, adjusting layouts and problem-solving in real time to improve performance. Not only did this activity sharpen students’ skills in design, measurement, and spatial thinking, but it also encouraged collaboration and teamwork as students gave feedback on each other’s tracks and shared strategies for faster laps.

Maria-Luisa Cambareri