On Monday 25 February Zipper Effect flew down to Melbourne to compete in this season’s national final held at the Australian International Air Show at Avalon Airport. While Newington has been to the F1 in Schools Australian National Final before, this was Zipper Effect’s first time representing Newington at an event like this. Accompanied by teacher Paul Honeywell, Newington’s representatives were:

• Alastair Bate (10/ME) – Team Manager
• Justin Tran (10/PR) – Manufacturing Engineer
• Felix Shannon (10/PR) – Graphics Designer
• David Chen (10/PR) – Design Engineer
• Ashan Karunagaran (10/KL) – Resource Manger

After a short flight and  train ride to Williamstown, the team enjoyed the first event that REA (the organisation that runs the program) had organised for all teams–a tour of the BAE Systems manufacturing dock.  The team were able to walk up to the Canberra Class LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock)– Australia’s largest aircraft carrier–and were shown all parts of the factory with the exception of the top-secret weapons department.

While this had given the team some time to enjoy the area, Zipper Effect then journeyed to their first judging event–the verbal presentations. The verbal presentations are an overview of all the teams’ work, including marketing and sponsorship collaboration. The team were also introduced to the previous world champions–Cold Fusion–who won the 2012 World Finals in Abu Dhabi which gave the team an idea of the work they had to do throughout the competition and what they needed to do to be among the best of the best.

As a welcome to all the competition teams and teachers, REA organised a dinner held at the Williamstown RSL to outline the week and to tell everyone what was ahead. This allowed Zipper Effect to speak to other teams and see what they had been working on during the season.

Wednesday morning was an early start so that everyone could prepare for the first visit to the Avalon Air Show. While the first impressions of the planes on the ground were astounding, nothing could prepare the team for the Spectacular display of Australian and US fighter jets. This gave a whole new meaning to loud airplanes!

When it came down to the competition, the first thing the team did was set up their booth, kindly printed by Rainbow Display Systems, to fill their small space with just enough information for it to look great. The day was very fast-paced and included judging of the team’s own car design and a tour of the various aircraft companies’ stands and displays. These amazing tours gave everyone competing an insight into the defence and aviation industry, as well as show everyone the amazing displays of the UAVs, fighter jets and other cool gadgets.

By Thursday it was surreal to think  how much everyone had learnt, and that there was still more to come.  This was the day of the main racing championships, with only the knockout racing against the other teams to go.

After a long day with more flybys and many more jets, there was the official ceremony, at which the awards were presented to all of the teams. Zipper Effect won the Professional Class Innovation Award, one out of only eight specific awards.  After a long day the team spent some more time enjoying the sights and headed to bed before the final day.

On Friday, the team went to an interesting careers presentation that involved presenting all the competitors with job options in the aviation and defence industry. From there all the boys had free access to all of the exhibits on display. It was here that everyone was able to enjoy the sights and learn a bit more about the history of the Australian Air Force planes, as well as seeing new jets that will be introduced in the near future.

The experiences of the competition were amazing. The team’s newly developed skills and eye-opening experiences taught us new skills in design, engineering, marketing and collaboration that will help in a wide range of school and future work projects.

 Alastair Bate (10/ME)