A FAN maker in Huddersfield has helped a student team of would-be racing car engineers take the chequered flag.
Woodcock and Wilson, of Crosland Hill, helped the team from the Gryphon School in Dorset to build a wind tunnel to test their design for the F1 in the Schools World Championships in Malaysia.
The F1 in Schools is a unique challenge which sets schoolchildren aged 11 to 18 the challenge of designing, testing, making and racing miniature Formula One cars made from balsa wood and powered by carbon dioxide cylinders.
The Gryphon School team used the wind tunnel to test their car and the move worked as the team won the Innovative Thinking Award at the World Championships for their wind tunnel design. They beat 25 teams from 15 countries to win the prize.
Judges were impressed by the design of the wind tunnel and also the fact that it could simulate race conditions.
Mark Jones, managing director of Woodcock and Wilson, said: ‘We were proud to be able to support a team of young design engineers.
“They are the future of the industry and stimulating interest at a young age can only be good news in the long term.
“Woodcock and Wilson is a great supporter of young engineers and thrives by giving them the opportunity to develop their engineering skills.
“We are employing apprentices and we build their knowledge with a hands-on approach as well as supporting them with their training.”
The firm, established 35 years ago, makes industrial fans.
The fans’ functions range from heating and ventilation, air pollution control, the petrochemical and offshore energy industry and process engineering.
