World record broken in Ballina!

ONE thousand, nine hundred and twenty four (1,924). That's the number of people who gathered at St. Muredach's College, Ballina, today to smash the previous record of 1,660 in making the largest human car image.

Fittingly, they all grouped together to form the shape of a Formula One car, as St. Muredach's students Richard Grimes, Cormac MacDermott, Peter Timlin and Sean Treacy, under the Unity Racing name, came up with the idea to raise awareness for their F1 in Schools project.

The four-man team have already qualified for the F1 in Schools world finals, which will be held in Malaysia in September, but a large amount of sponsorship and donations will be required to get them there. Publicity such as this certainly helps get sponsors on board.

“Completely overwhelmed with everything,” said Unity Racing after today's success. “Cannot believe almost 2,000 people came out today to support our team on our journey to Malaysia - we really appreciate it. To thank everybody individually would be impossible, but we couldn't have done it with out all of our followers, supporters, parents, teachers and of course sponsors.”

F1 in Schools is the largest worldwide competition promoting all four S.T.E.M. subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths). The competition is open to over 20 million students from 45 different countries, with innovation and originality being key as teams are expected to operate as actual F1 teams.

Each team competing must design, manufacture and race a 1:20 scale model F1 car, powered by a compressed CO2 canister. And, just like an actual F1 team, the competition requires each team to create a unique team brand and market that brand effectively by using social media and other methods – which Unity Racing certainly have done.

If you would like to get involved with this world record-breaking outfit as a sponsor (with any amount) or to help in any way, email teamunityracing@gmail.com or contact Richard Grimes, team manager, at (087) 2971367.