These learners are to represent SA at the Land Rover Schools World Finals

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The two groups are referred to as Team Rhino SA. The one group is an all 17-year-old girl group from Pietermaritzburg Girls' High School and the other group, who are referred to as The Insomniacs, are made up of 16 and 17-year-old boys from Roshnee Islamic School.

The finals will bring together national champions from around the globe to compete for the World Champions title. The competition will be held over two days at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK, close to Jaguar Land Rover’s headquarters.

Students will also participate in a visit to the company’s Gaydon Design and Engineering Centre to learn about its automated, connected and electric innovations and career opportunities.

The learners have used software coding to design and build a remote-controlled scale model four-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle capable of negotiating obstacles and road surfaces including water dips, a rope bridge, and rocks – all on a bespoke Land Rover track replicating the capabilities of a full-size SUV.

The teams will also present their work and knowledge of vehicle design and engineering to a panel of expert judges drawn from industry and within Jaguar Land Rover.

More about the challenge

Over 15,000 young people have taken part in the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Challenge competition since it was established in 2006. The competition was launched globally in 2015 and now operates in 20 countries.

The Challenge involves three to six team members working together to design and build a radio-controlled four-wheel-drive vehicle, to set specifications. The vehicle must be able to successfully negotiate a specially designed test track emulating real life and it must perform as a full-size SUV would do off-road.

The two-day World Finals competition will include judging sessions with car scrutineering, pit and portfolio displays, verbal presentation, research, design and engineering assessments, as well as a coding challenge. At its conclusion, a celebratory awards evening will crown the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools World Champions 2019. Following all their hard work the students will have a local cultural visit and a tour of the Jaguar Land Rover Design and Engineering Centre in Warwickshire.