Kindergarten were excited to welcome Rob Jaina who is Head of Learning and Engagement at Silverstone Museum (and a lifelong motorsport enthusiast!) to talk to the children about all types of car racing!
Rob delivered an interactive, immersive and hands-on curriculum-focused workshop about the Formula 1 motorsport industry. The children were fascinated to learn that it now takes under 2 seconds for specialist crew to change four Formula 1 tyres during a race and that the crew practice this around 1,000 a year! In the late 1970s it took around 70 seconds to change a tyre and refuel. The children also found out more about the range of skills as well as the vast number of people in a team involved in each race.
We tried to pick up a real Formula 1 tyre and it was so heavy and wide compared with the tyres we normally play with outside.
Having worked within the education sector, including as a Head of Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools, Rob changed career gear to become Head of Learning & Engagement at Silverstone Museum nearly four years ago.
I built the educational workshop around actually handling, looking at, feeling and touching these Formula 1 parts, which is so sensory.
Rob's lifelong passion for all levels of motorsport has seen him involved with the sector as a volunteer and a marshal for more than two decades. His extensive experience has led to Rob being assigned as incident officer at Silverstone Circuit, and for F1 Rob looks after the Hamilton Pit Straight start line for the British Grand Prix.
Many of the children had an interest in vehicles of various types, planes, trains and cars so we thought we would build on that in order to encourage quality, challenging Discovery Time play projects. Lots of great imaginative role play, and good construction came out of it, and they were still wanting to do more today!
Kindergarten were delighted to have the opportunity to try on some of the mini-sized race suits plus helmets and to create their own race tracks and racing cars from the tyres and blocks in their outdoor space with Rob after his talk. Many of the children were keen to hold Lewis Hamilton's racing car controls, which had been specifically designed and made to fit the nine-times Silverstone F1 champion's car.
I found out that the tyres have to be kept at the right temperature and this is very important during races or they won't have enough grip.
