A year 10 student from Trinity Grammar School, Kew, has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the Williams Formula One race team.

Kyle Winkler is the Design Engineer for a team called “Hyperdrive” which today was announced as the 2017 World Champion of the F1 in Schools STEM Challenge, the largest Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics competition in the world.

Kyle used space-age engineering software, virtual wind tunnel software and miniature smoke and wind test tunnels to develop an 80 km/h miniature F1 racing car.

Together with class mates, Hugh Bowman, David Greig and Alec Alder, they qualified to compete at the World Finals in Kuala Lumpur against 50 teams from 25 other nations. The top 300 or so students from the 9,000,000 who use this hi-tech’ STEM program to develop their innovation and technical skills.

Hyperdrive took first prize, won the coveted Best Engineered Car Award, were nominated for the Research and Development Award, and then Williams Formula One announced that it would accept 10 students for their elite Ranstad Engineering Academy. That was when Kyle discovered his amazing opportunity. He will be mentored by race engineers and technicians.

Team Manager, Hugh Bowman, 16, is another who hopes their achievement will lead to a motor sport career,

“The goal is definitely F1, the next Toto Wolff or Christian Horner for me.”

“F1inSchools has been so important to us, it’s given us so many opportunities and contacts, it’s unbelievable. We’ve always done everything to a really high standard and great engineering, and I think that was the key to our success. It means everything to us to have won. We’ve worked so hard and it’s paid off.”

It was the second time that Trinity Grammar School, Kew, has won the World Finals. The first time in 2006 these students were in kindergarten!

Team Australia dominated the World Finals with an Adelaide team finishing second and two others from Launceston and the Hunter Valley receiving awards.

F1 in Schools was introduced to Australian schools in 2003 by not-for-profit social enterprise Re-Engineering Australia Foundation, the brainchild of Sydney engineer Dr Michael Myers OAM. He is passionate about inspiring young people to innovate, embrace world-best technology and consider engineering and manufacturing careers.