As part of their Geography study of manufacturing in Oxfordshire, Year 5 were delighted to be invited to a private tour of the Alpine Formula 1 team factory and headquarters.
We were shown how the cars are designed, made and refined, and astonished by the attention to detail.
The cars are constructed in tiny parts, out of the lightest materials... we saw a large room full of 3D printers producing some parts, and others being moulded by hand (like a kind of high-tech Play-Dough) and baked in the oven. We saw the largest room of computers any of us have seen, each one devoted to designing some small aspect of a car, to make it more aerodynamic, lighter or safer. Some of us were even lucky enough to visit the wind tunnel, where prototype cars are tested for wind resistance. We all agreed that this would be a great place to work, and discussed that this is the perfect explanation for why it is good to work hard at Maths, Science and Computing.
We are very grateful to Solmaz Jabari (a former CCCS parent) and everybody we met at Alpine for being so welcoming.
