A group of budding engineers and mechanics from Glenrothes High School are heading stateside tomorrow to take part in the Hydrogen Grand Prix World Championships in Southern California.

The Glenrothes High School Team of Samuel Myles, Drew Hamilton, Jayson Dearden, Jack Cooper, and Cameron McMillan will represent their school, Scotland and the UK at the international event. They’ll join teams from around the world to design, engineer, build and race their own hydrogen powered, radio-controlled cars in a four-hour endurance race around an indoor track.

The Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) is a STEM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) backed by Horizon Hobby, a multinational radio control products manufacturer. The H2GP programme provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the engineering principles behind the future of a Green - renewable energy society and provides them with an opportunity to work in a team with individual responsibilities whilst working towards a common goal.

Headteacher Avril McNeill joined the team yesterday to wish them luck and a safe journey.

She said: “We are so proud of what the team have achieved already, and everyone is so excited to see how they perform in the World Championship.

“This is an amazing experience for them and a chance to show off their engineering skills. They have all worked so hard on this project, with the help of their teachers, and this trip will give them the chance to interact with students from across the world, share ideas, share learning and just have fun.

“We can’t thank Fife College enough for their support, alongside Andrew Sealey (Teacher of Technologies) who will support our team at the international event and to Stacey Bradshaw (Teacher of Physics) who supported the team to their UK success.”

Glenrothes High School hosted and won the UK championship on the 18th of June 2024 with teams from Scotland and England competing. The Glenrothes team won the race by a considerable margin: 634 laps, almost 60 laps ahead of the closest competition.

Winning this event has given the team the opportunity to compete at the H2GP World Championship, Southern California, which begins on Sunday 8th of September 2024.

Teams will be competing  from Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United States.

The races are taking place at Anaheim Convention Centre, where the 20th RE+ renewable energy event is taking place. This is the largest clean energy event in North America, focusing on the business of solar, energy storage, hydrogen, wind, microgrids, and electric vehicles. There will be exhibitors and delegates attending from all over the world