LoTRDC racers Team Bishopshalt Racing, who regularly enter a car for Michael Edwards and Russell Hill, were looking for a new livery for their car and were approached by an unlikely source – Bishopshalt School in Hillingdon, West London! Pupil and friend of the team Shay McDonagh proposed the idea of designing graphics for the roof and encouraged teacher Dan Jenkinson to form a design group, with the project becoming part of their weekly school work.
Edwards was so inspired by the response that he decided to open up the project to include the entire car and the project became a competition over the last two terms of 2010. In addition to the race car, pupils also designed T-shirts and baseball caps. With prizes awarded in February of this year, the team invited former Formula Palmer Audi driver Emma Selway to drive the car at the Silverstone GP circuit, supporting Formula 2 on April 16 and 17. Entered in both the Elise Trophy and Lotus Cup UK races, Emma scored an outright victory, podium place and class win in the races – a first in the series for a female driver. This provided the perfect result for the pupils, who had come along to Silverstone to cheer Emma on. They were also given a very special school lesson by ex-Lotus Formula One driver Martin Donnelly and received souvenirs from LoTRDC, including race programmes signed by MotorSport Vision boss Jonathan Palmer.
Schoolmaster Mr Coultas-Pitman said, “Mr Jenkinson who has been working with the students at Bishopshalt has been impressed by both sides in their effort and success. The students have engaged really well on this project – they rarely see their work come to life outside the classroom, and to be working with such prestigious companies as MSVR and LoTRDC has been a privilege. Not just the students, whose designs have made the final car livery, but on a much wider scale throughout the school, this project has been noticed as a flagship partnership. This, coupled with two wins and a podium in Emma’s first weekend with Team Bishopshalt could not have been a better start. Long may her personal and Team Bishopshalt’s success continue through out this season and onwards.”
Further information on the project can be found on the school’s website.
