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Aims Lunar Racing aims to produce students who: achieve a GCSE Level qualification in either Motor Vehicle Repair, Engineering or Science are able to work hard in adverse conditions think independently and act responsibly understand the value of knowledge Lunar Racing uses the excitement and challenge of motorsport to place Science and Engineering in a dynamic context. The heart of the Lunar Racing philosophy is to bring the classroom into the real world. This is why we compete in the professional motorsport arena. There is nothing wrong with case studies, but doesn’t “remember how you improved the grip of the rear tyres by..…” sound better than “on page 32, how do Mclaren……” Additionally, students learn much faster if they are actually ‘doing’ instead of watching or reading about something. We’ve made a conscious decision not to work with further education colleges or universities, simply because their students have already made the decision to become qualified Engineers or Scientists. Once a student has qualified for college or university, Lunar Racing has done its job and the students should concentrate on their courses! In the future we aim to run a radio-controlled car championship for primary schools to target students early in their education. The Lunar Racing Regional Centres If more schools are to join us, Lunar Racing needs to be a solution and not a problem. It has always been difficult for schools to find the building space and resources to run their own motorsport engineering departments. With this in mind, we’re opening our first Lunar Racing Regional Centre. This will be able to serve schools in the South Lincolnshire area. When the centre is fully operational it will enable us to both prepare every aspect of the Lunar Racing cars (we currently use workshop space loaned by sponsors) and teach Motor Vehicle Maintenance, Vehicle Body Repair and Engineering under one roof. Due to the current economic climate, we unfortunately need to charge schools for tuition, but not for resources. However, our long term plan is to make enough money through sponsorship and the commercial activities of Lunar Race Engineering (a company set up by Lunar Racing to develop motorsport components) to enable us to offer our services free to schools. The Future In the future Lunar Racing will be responsible for its own educational motorsport championship. The championship will offer affordable close competition to satisfy the racing drivers, but more importantly will serve as the first step for the nation’s future motorpsort mechanics and engineers. The cars racing in this championship will be maintained at the Lunar Racing regional centres where they will be used to teach Motor Vehicle technology and Engineering to 13-18 year old school students. To allow progression for our students, Lunar Racing will continue to compete against professional motorsport teams. With this in mind, Lunar Racing will enter cars in top national motorsport championships.
Why Lunar Racing? At Lunar Racing we believe that the modern exam-based education system fails our children. The emphasis of education has moved away from the student and on to the school and its teachers. Schools must now achieve their target A-C percentage at all costs. This has resulted in teachers doing the work for their students and students being used as tools to improve the schools’ standing in league tables. This has resulted in many students becoming disillusioned with education. I’ve yet to meet a toddler who isn’t full of questions and thirsty for knowledge, but this attitude is usually destroyed by the time I get to teach them. In addition to this, schools have been pushed into taking an ‘industry’ style approach to organizing themselves. As a teacher I have regularly had conversations about ‘funding units’ (your children). It got to point where I had to do something; Lunar Racing became my way of trying to make a difference. With Lunar Racing, students gain recognized qualifications (NVQ/BTEC Light Vehicle Repair, GCSE Engineering) and develop a work ethic to make them infinitely more employable than your average school leaver. No other education initiative comes close.*

Why Motorsport? One simple reason is that it motivates students and gives them a feeling of self-worth. It is not only an exciting occupation, but the skills necessary can be obtained through hard work and attention to detail, not demographic background. The multi-disciplinary nature of Motorsport makes it easily expand to other subject areas. Schools working with Lunar Racing can get the whole school involved. We are intending to introduce further courses into the project such as GCSE Science, Catering, Business Studies, Graphics……….. Another huge advantage of Motorsport is that racing cars make the actual teaching of Automotive Maintenance and Repair easier. Racing cars have all unnecessary components removed and so the systems which the students must cover are more visible and accessible, making it easier to explain how they work. Finally, but probably most importantly, Motorsport prepares students for the workplace. The students involved in the project are to all intents and purposes employees of Lunar Racing, and as such they are expected to prepare the cars to Motorsport standard for immovable deadlines. They are expected to represent sponsors to a very high standard. They are obviously very closely monitored and any mistakes are carefully explained to them, but by the time they've graduated, we expect them to be successful in whatever they do.

achieve a GCSE Level qualification in either Motor Vehicle Repair, Engineering or Science
are able to work hard in adverse conditions
think independently and act responsibly
understand the value of knowledge

Lunar Racing uses the excitement and challenge of motorsport to place Science and Engineering in a dynamic context. The heart of the Lunar Racing philosophy is to bring the classroom into the real world. This is why we compete in the professional motorsport arena. There is nothing wrong with case studies, but doesn’t “remember how you improved the grip of the rear tyres by..…” sound better than “on page 32, how do Mclaren……” Additionally, students learn much faster if they are actually ‘doing’ instead of watching or reading about something.

We’ve made a conscious decision not to work with further education colleges or universities, simply because their students have already made the decision to become qualified Engineers or Scientists. Once a student has qualified for college or university, Lunar Racing has done its job and the students should concentrate on their courses!

In the future we aim to run a radio-controlled car championship for primary schools to target students early in their education.

The Lunar Racing Regional Centres
If more schools are to join us, Lunar Racing needs to be a solution and not a problem. It has always been difficult for schools to find the building space and resources to run their own motorsport engineering departments. With this in mind, we’re opening our first Lunar Racing Regional Centre. This will be able to serve schools in the South Lincolnshire area. When the centre is fully operational it will enable us to both prepare every aspect of the Lunar Racing cars (we currently use workshop space loaned by sponsors) and teach Motor Vehicle Maintenance, Vehicle Body Repair and Engineering under one roof.

Due to the current economic climate, we unfortunately need to charge schools for tuition, but not for resources. However, our long term plan is to make enough money through sponsorship and the commercial activities of Lunar Race Engineering (a company set up by Lunar Racing to develop motorsport components) to enable us to offer our services free to schools.

The Future
In the future Lunar Racing will be responsible for its own educational motorsport championship. The championship will offer affordable close competition to satisfy the racing drivers, but more importantly will serve as the first step for the nation’s future motorpsort mechanics and engineers. The cars racing in this championship will be maintained at the Lunar Racing regional centres where they will be used to teach Motor Vehicle technology and Engineering to 13-18 year old school students.

To allow progression for our students, Lunar Racing will continue to compete against professional motorsport teams. With this in mind, Lunar Racing will enter cars in top national motorsport championships.