YOUNG mathematicians have the right formula in a car racing competition.

Moor End Technology College students Peter Doyle and Usman Majid both in year seven have successfully beaten teams from across Kirklees in the key stage three age group of the National Jaguar Maths Challenge.

The two boys had to calculate angles and work out a complex set of percentages before setting their car up and virtually racing the car around the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 race track.

Teacher Simon Roberts, the event organiser at the school said; “This is the first time we have entered a car into the Jaguar Maths Challenge as a school and I was both amazed and delighted that at the first attempt we successfully beat other schools in the area to reach the National Semi-Finals.

“The two boys worked really hard throughout the day and they were as amazed as I was that they made it through.”

The boys now have to organise a new car, with a new track and different weather conditions to set a new time before May 7.

This is then submitted to the organisers.

If the boys are successful and manage to make it through to the final then it will take place at the Heritage Motor Centre at Graydon in Warwickshire in June.

The success for the Moor End team follows an event last month involving the college and local primary feeder schools. The event, based on the theme of a motor race, encouraged and developed the pupils’ knowledge and understanding of maths as well as the challenge of getting a racing car around one of the F1 race tracks somewhere in the world.

Mr Roberts added: “The whole idea behind the event is to encourage and develop the pupils’ knowledge and understanding of maths, but making it fun at the same time.

“The competitiveness that the teams show throughout the day is unbelievable and as the race reaches the final few laps you can really feel the tension between the teams as they are willing their own particular car on to the chequered flag.

“If schools haven’t taken up the challenge I would really recommend it as a different way of developing their understanding of maths.”