More information on this process can be found at www.f1inschools.co.uk or our KS3 site www.freewebs.com/modf1.

Car Manufacture

After we have finalised our car design we begin the detailed manufacture process. Matt is the chief Manufacture Engineer and other team members assist when they can. Below is a guide to how we manufacture our race vehicles. To find out how we design our car head to the Car Design Page.

Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM)

After we have created our final car design on CAD software our CAD/CAM Technician, Mrs Purshouse, uses Denford computer controlled manufacturing machines to carve our car body from a block of balsa wood. The car body is rough and coarse at this point so we move onto sanding...

(The macine shown is a Denford Microrouter)

Sanding

Matt and Harry use varying grades of sandpaper supplied by the DT department to smooth our car body in preparation for priming and painting. They start with a rougher piece of sandpaper and work their way down to an ultra smooth grade of paper. This ensues a smooth base for applying the paint and primer.

Priming

To get the smoothest finish possible Matt must apply endless coats of primer to the sanded car body. On the 2005 carsalone we went through over five 500ml cans of primer! Needless to say matt can find priming a bit boring and tedious! However it is essential to create a good base for the paint. Below are some pictures of our primed vehicles.

 Painting

To create the best looking finish we use high quality paints to prepare our race vehicles. We purchase our paints from car dealers or similar places and apply it using an airbrush or use a conventional spray can. It is important to apply several layers for the best finish and a durable cover for our cars.

(The 2005 race cars with their coat of British Racing Green paint)

Finishing Touches

We then drill holes and add wheels and axles to our car body to create our finished vehicle. Our 2005 cars used the standard Pitsco wheels but next year we will manufacture our own nylon or aluminium wheels.

As a final touch we then add our sponsors logos. We apply them as smoothly as possible to minimise the drag created.

(The green car is our final race vehicle)

The car is now finished! Bring on race day!