Date of Issue: 7 May 2004

WNT (UK) Ltd Sheffield Airport Business Park Europa Link Sheffield S9 1XU Tel: +44 114 249 6 249 Fax: +44 114 249 6 250

Date of issue: 19 February 2013 Reference: 13-319-WNT-4x4 in Schools Caistor Grammar students win through to 4X4 in Schools national final

A team of students from Caistor, Lincolnshire, is celebrating victory in the first round of a major national STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) competition. The ‘Caistor Crawlers’ team beat off strong opposition in the Northern Regional Final of the 4x4 in Schools Challenge held at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant with a remote-controlled 4X4 vehicle they designed and manufactured. The ‘Caistor Crawlers’ have now secured a place at the National Final, which is taking place in March. The winning team will have the chance to win a £1,000 scholarship for Harper Adams College as well as several other coveted prizes.

Team members Ryan Laycock, George Dray and Fred Holmes, all aged 14, collected the Best Engineering Award on the way to overall Regional Finals success. Ryan said of the team’s success, “We’ve had a brilliant day. This has been one of the best experiences of my life.” Team mate George Dray added, “The secret to our success was good planning, team work and a very good steering system. I’d recommend this competition to everyone.” Fred added, “I’ve really enjoyed competing today. It was good seeing the other teams’ vehicles and driving our car around the track. I can’t believe we’ve won! It’s great that our hard work over the past six months has paid off.”

Sixteen teams travelled from across the North including County Durham, Yorkshire, Manchester and Wilmslow to compete in the competition. ‘Deva Centurions’ team from Chester Catholic High School and Team Jackal from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College in Loughborough also won awards and have secured places at the National Finals. WNT (UK) Ltd Sheffield Airport Business Park Europa Link Sheffield S9 1XU Tel: +44 114 249 6 249 Fax: +44 114 249 6 250

Tony Pennington, Managing Director of 4x4 in Schools Challenge sponsor WNT (UK) said, “WNT (UK) is proud to be sponsoring the 4x4 in Schools Challenge and all of our team has been impressed by the extremely high standards of engineering and innovation being shown by these young students. The challenge is a demanding one and everyone involved has raised their game and we can be confident that there will be the engineers of tomorrow coming out of this event. At WNT UK) we feel that it is important to encourage engineering at an early age and our technical sales team are fully committed to this particular project, becoming STEM advisors and working with the students to encourage them during the development stages of their vehicles.”

David Lakin, National Project Manager, 4x4 in Schools adds, “We’ve had a very successful event with highly competitive teams, plenty of excitement and a tough job for the judges to select the winners, with all the teams showing us excellent work. The time that these students have dedicated to the competition, most of which is outside of school time, must be commended, and it also shows just how inspirational it is for them. The skills the students learn are not only academic, but extend to the life skills everyone needs to succeed including team work and confidence which are so valuable to them for their future careers.”

Students participating in the 4x4 in Schools Challenge design and build remote controlled four wheel drive vehicles. The teams present their work at the regional finals to an expert panel that scrutinise the cars against a comprehensive set of rules and regulations. The most nerve-wracking element of the competition comes when they drove their bespoke designed vehicle on a model off-road track, with a variety of surfaces and obstacles for the vehicle to tackle, testing breadth of capability expected of Land Rover 4x4 vehicles.

The teams will now prepare for the 4 x 4 in Schools National Final, which will be held on Thursday 14th March at the Big Bang Fair, ExCel London. WNT (UK) Ltd Sheffield Airport Business Park Europa Link Sheffield S9 1XU Tel: +44 114 249 6 249 Fax: +44 114 249 6 250

The 4x4 in Schools Challenge takes place with the assistance of a host of sponsors and supporters. Amongst these are Jaguar Land Rover, The IET, WNT (UK) and Harper Adams College.

For further information about the 4 x4 in Schools technology challenge visit www.4x4inschools.co.uk.

Full results from the 4x4 in Schools North Regional Final:

Overall Winners - Caistor Crawlers - Caistor Grammar School First Place Class 1 - Team Jackal - Welbeck DSFC First Place Class 2 - Deva Centurions - Chester Catholic High School Best Rookie Team - Torque, Torque - Chester Catholic High School Best Track Performance - Deva Centurions - Chester Catholic High School Best Engineered Vehicle - Caistor Crawlers - Caistor Grammar School Innovative Thinking Award - Wilmslow Wheels - Wilmslow High School Judges Discretionary Award - Team Viper - The East Manchester Academy

Image:

Picture shows left to right: David Pover, PVT Manager, Jaguar Land Rover Halewood, Caistor Crawlers team members Fred Smith, George Dray and Ryan Laycock and Tony Pennington, WNT (UK) WNT (UK) Ltd Sheffield Airport Business Park Europa Link Sheffield S9 1XU Tel: +44 114 249 6 249 Fax: +44 114 249 6 250

Issued on behalf of: With compliments:

WNT (UK) Ltd Agitate PR Ltd Sheffield Airport Business Park PO Box 803, Europa Link Gillingham Sheffield S9 1XU Kent ME8 9JQ Tel: 0800 073 2 073 Tel: 01634 261288 Fax: 0800 073 2 074 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.wnt.com Website: www.agitatepr.co.uk Contact: Contact: Mr Tony Pennington Nigel Jones Managing Director