Thursday 22 June 2017, Gaydon, Warwickshire – Students from The Compton School in North London have beaten teams from 13 countries to win the 2017 Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge world final. More than 102,000 students took part over the past year and the winners beat them all by achieving the fastest time with a virtual racing car they created using science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills.

To reach the face-to-face final, the students won a series of online races in their school, a preliminary knockout round and a semi-final. The final was held at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, where 30 teams competed in two age group ranges for the world championship. Teams had just 90 minutes ahead of the race to make calculations and racing decisions, including the amount of fuel required and the angles of the track bends.

After an exciting race, The Compton School won the Senior World Championship and World Championship trophy. St. Peter & St. Paul's C of E Primary School in Lincolnshire were crowned Junior World Champions. The overall winners were Tom Vettiankal aged 12 and Harvey Stone, 11, who finished the race 62 seconds ahead after a 59-lap race around a Durban street circuit.

Tom from The Compton School said: "It feels amazing that we've won the Challenge and beaten 102,000 other students. The competition combines our favourite things, maths and cars, and we've had a great time learning about how cars work and finding out how maths is important in engineering careers." Charlie Webster, aged 11, from the St. Peter & St. Paul's C of E Primary School said: "We are delighted and so proud that we won the junior trophy. Because of the challenge, we all love maths and the females in our team want to show others that girls can do maths just as well as boys."

The Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge was established in 2000, since when more than 2 million pupils have taken part. Youngsters aged eight to 16 set up a virtual racing car to compete against other schools on some of the world's most famous circuits. Teams must use all their mathematical expertise to accurately measure the length of the track, the angles of the bends and consider other factors such as fuel load, tyres and speeds, the car's technical set-up and the weather forecast. This data is entered into a cloud based computer simulation and tested in a series of practice laps.

The race was broadcast live via the Jaguar Maths in Motion YouTube channel to 100,000 families and schools worldwide.  Audiences from Australia, China and Spain logged on to experience the excitement.

Victoria Perry, Community Affairs Manager, Jaguar Land Rover, said: "Jaguar Land Rover and our school challenge partners are committed to promoting science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects to help address the global shortage of engineers through our school education programme. The Jaguar Maths in Motion challenge demonstrates the importance and relevance of STEM skills to the automotive industry and we hope it will inspire more youngsters to pursue careers at Jaguar Land Rover in the future." 

Brian Richardson, Challenge Organiser, said: "The Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge shows students there are good reasons to study maths at school and that you can have fun doing it. It also shows that teamwork is an essential skill in the workplace – wherever you live in the world.  The world final teams have demonstrated this today and we will continue to encourage them to use the skills they have learned when they enter the world of work. Well done to all the school teams who have taken part this year and congratulations to The Compton School and St. Peter & St. Paul's C of E Primary School for being such worthy world champions."

Alex Tamlyn from Roundhay St John's Primary School, Leeds, won the Paul Richardson Award for Endeavour. The award is in memory of a Jaguar Maths in Motion team member who died in October 2016. It will be presented annually to a student who has tried hard to improve themselves and others as a result of the challenge. Brian Richardson said: "We chose Alex because his story typified what Paul was all about – working hard and, very importantly, helping others."

The Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge is Jaguar Land Rover's largest school challenge and helps the company engage with huge numbers of young people and teachers, through our extensive teacher training programme each year.  Schools from Australia, China, England, Scotland and Wales were represented in the final this year. The 2018 challenge is now open for entries.  For more information, go to www.mathschallenge.org.uk

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Results table

For more information, contact:

Brian Richardson, Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge, Challenge Organiser
Tel 01480 301201 Email: info@mathschallenge.org.uk

Kate Birkenhead, Jaguar Land Rover CSR PR and Communications
Tel 07780 494 352 Email: kbirkenh@jaguarlandrover.com