CLINTON, Tennessee — Formula 1 racing is becoming increasingly popular throughout the United States and its "F1 in Schools" program is a testament to that.
This school year, 10 schools across Tennessee are participating in the program and Clinton High School is one of them.
Klayton Mann is a student of Clinton High School and manager of its team in the program.
"Most of us are either part of the school's robotics teams or are interested in our engineering groups. So we were kind of approached with this idea and we have built it from the ground to what we have now," Mann said.
The team is currently in the design phase of building the car, which incorporates computer-assisted design and computer-assisted manufacturing.
"We take our initial idea, we turn it into a 3D model and then we run it through the 3D printer and test until we get what we want," said Mann.
The team also focuses on things like marketing and graphic design as part of the project. All of it helps the students add to their portfolios, meant to help them seem like better candidates for employers when they start searching for jobs.
"I plan on being a graphic designer in the future, so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to help improve and learn," said Amberly Clay, the team's graphic designer.
The team is taking its marketing skills to local businesses who may also be willing to sponsor them during the competition season.
"We're trying to raise $20,000 because 3D print filaments, buses to get places — it's not cheap. So we want to raise that much money just to make sure it's the lowest cost to the people in the group. So we're looking at local businesses and (companies) that have to do with racing or cars to come and help us out," said Mann.
The club also teaches them how to manage time and schedules to make the product come together.
"It's really difficult to schedule because everybody has conflicting schedules and it's hard to find a day that works for everybody. But something that's going really well is we're all working very well together and everything is getting done," said Dixie Hobbs, another manager of the team.
The team is competing on Dec. 7 for the regional tournament, and with more experience, they could also compete in a worldwide competition.
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