STUDENTS at Prince Henry’s School in Otley are celebrating after they became the leading grand prix team in England, winning themselves the chance to travel to Los Angeles for the World Final of the H2 Grand Prix Pro Series.

The H2 Grand Prix Pro series offers school pupils the chance to design and build a remote controlled racing car, with a top speed of up to 37mph, powered by hydrogen, and race it in a four hour grand prix against teams from across the UK – and then the world.

The program empowers students to be the problem-solvers of tomorrow, connect with the automotive industry, and gear it up with renewable energy technology. 

The team of Year 10 students travelled to Scotland for their UK final, winning both the Design and the Innovation prizes, finishing as top England team. The H2GP World Final will see the 40 best student-led teams from across the world compete, qualifying from a program of over 4,000 students and hundreds of schools. 

Student Jacob Wright, 14, said: "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity – I don’t think it’s something that will ever happen again. I can’t imagine ever getting to do this in the future without school. I really hope we can get to LA!”

The Los Angeles final takes place at the RE+ renewable energy trade show, attended by over 60,000 RE professionals from over 100 countries. In order for the Prince Henry’s students to attend, the school is seeking sponsorship from the local community.

Head teacher Sally Bishop said: “We could not be more proud of our students – this really is an amazing opportunity for them, which they have secured by hard work and innovative thinking. We wish we had the budget to just send them to LA, but we are hoping that our local community will help us get them there. If you watched The Apprentice this year, you will have seen the huge sums which sponsorship on racing cars attracts – this is an opportunity for local businesses to sponsor a grand prix team for much less!”

If you would like to discuss sponsoring the team, please email info@princehenrys.co.uk FAO Pippa McPherson or ring her on 01943 463524.