National shortage of girls in engineering and science careers - not at Richard Rose Central Academy!

A recent visit by to the McLaren Technology Centre in Surrey and Carter Bearings in Oxford by a group of students from the Richard Rose Central Academy has certainly shattered the stereotypical view of engineering where there presently is a national shortage of engineers and scientists where women make up a very small number of those employed. The Richard Rose Central Academy are leaders in both the North of England as well as throughout the whole of the UK where they have two well-established teams of eager students, namely “Shooting Starz” and “The Falcons”.

The students are all aged between 11 and 19 years old and have won national recognition for their innovation, skills, knowledge, expertise and corporate image where one of the teams will soon be competing to become World Champions in September of this year in London.

In preparation for these World Championships, a group of RRCA students McClaren Automotive and Carter Bearings during their Easter holiday to find out more about how they can improve the speed of their cars through its design.    Students were excited and proud to report their own personal accounts of their wonderful two days:

“On Wednesday 8th April we made the short journey from Egham to Woking in Surrey on the academy bus.  We were very excited about the day ahead.  We had been invited to visit the McLaren Technology Centre by Mr Alan Foster, the Operations Director for McLaren Automotive, who had seen our design portfolios and the scale model race cars that we prepared for the National Finals back in January.  We were met by Tom Blackman , the Senior Paint Technician who was to be our guide for the day, and escorted to the board room and warmly welcomed by Mr Foster, he outlined the programme for the day, we were treated to refreshments, and then we were off to the Paint Department.  Our first impression was of the wonderful building with white tiles on the floor, and walls with lots of glass and the glass lifts.  As we stepped into the paint shop, our feet stuck to the floor, there were sticky mats to remove any dirt from our shoes.  We saw the Carbon fibre body shells for the SLR sports cars being prepared for painting, and the numerous paint booths.  Tom informed us of the various processes and we were shown samples of the latest paint technology, applied like shrink wrap film to any surface.

Our next stop was the assembly line where the SLR cars were built by hand at 12 successive stations.  First in were the wiring looms and cables, followed by major components such as engine, gearbox, axles etc.  The overwhelming impression was of cleanliness, again the white tiles on the floor.  At the final station we saw one of the cars fired up and we listened to the deep rumble from the exhaust.  Now it was time for lunch in the McLaren Restaurant, the Restaurant staff had catered for Posh and Becks wedding, the choice was amazing, the portions enormous and the food tasted wonderful.  As we sat round a large table, Lewis Hamilton wandered by with his brother and Heikki Kovalainen.  Lewis, who is the public face of McLaren F1, was on home ground a place where he can relax.  After lunch we headed for the section where they build and test The Formula One race cars.  We saw cars in various stages of assembly, we had the chance to hold the steering wheel which Lewis had used in Malaysia, it was still wet and there were so many buttons, switches and levers.  Further along we saw strips of carbon fibre being laid into a mould, this was to be part of a new front wing for the Chinese Grand Prix.  We were taken into the wind tunnel section, it was vast, we examined a scale model which was being prepared to go into the tunnel.

Next we were in the machine shop, some very large CNC machines making very complex components for the race cars.  Our next adventure was to stroll along the boulevard, with the lake on one side and a line of race cars on the other.  It was like travelling back through time, as each car appeared and the technology became even more complex, from the simple shapes of the early cars to the very sophisticated designs of the modern cars.  Then we walked along the trophy gallery, hundreds of trophies from every major race track in the world, the display was truly awesome with trophies in Gold, Silver, Glass and Porcelain to name but a few. The next hour was an opportunity for the “Shooting Starz” to consult with Ian Gough, one of McLaren’s Aerodynamicists.  We had taken a model of our latest prototype and Ian used it to offer advice on areas where we could make improvements to our design.  All the suggestions Ian made were very carefully noted, to be acted on at the first opportunity.  The “Shooting Starz” have been invited to form a collaboration team “Synergy” with a Malaysian school and compete at the World Championships in London in September of this year. Ian was followed by Frank Stephenson (Director of Design) and Neil Patterson (Chief Designer), who gave us an overview of the projects they were involved with, they also conveyed a sense of the enthusiasm and attention to detail which seems to await you around every corner of the building. Our tour ended with a question and answer session with Alan Foster, The “Falcons” and “Shooting Starz” were each given a goody bag from Alan containing a Red Winners Race Cap and a signed photograph of Lewis, the staff were given a Team Cap, this was the icing on the cake, perhaps some of the magic will find its way to our team “Synergy”.  Our last stop was a photo session with Lewis’ winning race car from last season.  We had the rare privilege of being very close to a very high tech machine, with the sun low over the lake in the background. We said goodbye and thank you to Alan and Tom and as we left on the bus we all took away memories of an amazing experience and some very professional and friendly people, truly a day never to be forgotten”.

“On Thursday 9th April, we arrived about 10.30am to Carter Bearings in Abingdon, Oxford, and we were warmly welcomed by Karl Brundell Managing Director and Martin Wakelin, Sales Director, and shown up to the board room where refreshments were available.  They examined our race cars and portfolios and we thanked them for the bearing samples they have already supplied, we were able to demonstrate that the Ceramic bearing was really good and ran effortlessly for a long time.  “Synergy” the collaboration team who are going to the world championships are working very hard to improve their designs to get the best aerodynamics possible and hope to be able to test the bearings on the race track in the very near future, to see which will be the best for our application.  Martin gave a short presentation outlining the range and types of bearings which Carter can supply, and the different manufacturers that they can call upon.  Next we had the opportunity to handle samples of very high tech bearings and discuss the pros and cons of various applications, as well as the spacing of the balls and the inner and outer rings.  Full ceramic bearings, which can function in extremes of temperature and high vacuum.  Then we were shown a range of very thin bearings which are used where space is a premium, such as in a full body scanner.  We had a really good discussion about the different sorts of bearing which we could use for our model race cars, and the ways that we can fix them into the axle.  We were given a tour around the warehouse and shown their range of stock, very impressive. We greatly appreciate the support offered by Carl and Malcolm and we look forward to some fast run times at the competition.  We left Oxford with a deeper understanding of bearing types and what was available to us”.

A group of sixth form students, “The Diamond Girls” have also been looking after and coaching local primary school pupils where “The Comets” from Caldew Lea Primary School in Carlisle won national recognition for their super fast cars where the judges were really impressed.

With new strong links also now firmly in place world-wide, the world is really now their oyster for a bright future in both engineering and science careers if they so wish!