Dec 8 - PTC, Hornby to Support Scalextric4schools 2010 Contest

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PTC, Hornby to Support Scalextric4schools 2010 Contest

NEEDHAM, MA, Dec 8, 2009 - PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company, and Hornby Hobbies Limited, which uses PTC technology for the design of Scalextric, Hornby Railway and Airfix products from concept through to manufacture and documentation, have announced their support of the Scalextric4schools Design / Make / Race Challenge during 2010. Launched in February 2009 by motoring expert, James May, the Scalextric4schools Challenge is designed to support and motivate UK school students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

PTC, in consultation with Hornby Hobbies, has developed a comprehensive program for the Scalextric4schools Design/Make/Race Challenge. The program is mapped to the UK national education curriculum and directly supports the delivery of STEM-related subjects in the classroom. Students who participate in the challenge receive a one-year license of PTC’s 3D CAD software, Pro/ENGINEER, to be used at home to take part in the challenge, prepare for class work, and complete homework assignments.

“We’ve worked very closely with PTC to develop an extremely exciting project that will help students learn about design and engineering by building and racing their very own Scalextric cars,” commented Paul Chandler, Scalextric Marketing Manager.

The competition

Teams entering the competition are comprised of four members who adopt the roles of Team Manager, Designer, Media and Marketing and, of course, the all important Driver. The teams will be assessed in three categories: Design, Make, and Race. Entries must be submitted electronically in the categories Design and Make by 30 April, 2010.

The Design category will contain in detail the design and development of the team’s car. Entry details will include Pro/ENGINEER part and assembly files, team planning and details of sponsors and other contributors to the team. Students are also encouraged to submit details of any mechanical testing and manufacture such as injection molding, rapid prototyping, and vacuum forming, as well as any virtual testing using Pro/ENGINEER for component fit and function, photorealistic rendering, mass properties, etc.

The final assessment will be held in the form of an exciting car racing festival on a standard Scalextric track. For maximum suspense, the layout of the track will not be revealed until the day of the race at Donington Motor Racing Park on 23 May, 2010. Entrants will be allowed a fixed period for practice before racing for their fastest single and 25-lap speeds. More emphasis will be placed on the car’s performance, with no qualifying heats as in 2009. These will be replaced with an all to play for ‘knock-out’ style final. All entries received for the design challenge will be eligible to attend. Judges will assess the quality of manufacture before watching the students go head-to-head in the final race.

Root Solutions, who supported the 2009 competition, has been selected as the program’s design development partner and judges of the Design category. Boxford and CR Clarke have been chosen to continue their roles as performance partners for design and manufacture and will also help judge the final race.

Which team will take the championship in 2010? Without doubt, Wotton High School, the current world slot car champion, will be the team to beat after its blistering performance at last year's final. Much is also expected from the ladies of Sandbach high school, who designed 2009’s 'best engineered car'. Then there is Team Overdriven, the 'giant-killers', who came from nowhere in the last race to finish a respectable third. Or will a new team of future engineers take the championship? For more information about the challenge, please visit www.scalextric4schools.org.

About Hornby Hobbies Limited

The Hornby brand is a household name and is famous as the UK brand leader in the model railway hobby. It started as Meccano Ltd in 1907 making the world famous construction kits for children. The Company’s brands include Hornby, Electrotren, Lima, Bassett-Lowke, Rivarossi, Jouef and Arnold in model railways; Scalextric and Superslot in slot racing; Airfix and Humbrol in model kits; and paints and Corgi in die cast.

For more information, visit www.scalextric.com.

About Pro/E Schools Edition

The functionality in the Pro/ENGINEER Schools Edition gives students invaluable experience to prepare them for an engineering course in college or for a job in engineering straight out of school. This package is based around Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, which includes static and kinematic analysis software for classroom and students' home-use, training opportunities provided by PTC professionals, classroom-tested materials, and customer support. It is designed to be used as a curriculum aid in mathematics and science as well as in design and technology classes.

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) provides discrete manufacturers with software and services to meet the globalization, time-to-market and operational efficiency objectives of product development. Using the company’s CAD, and content and process management solutions, organizations in the Industrial, High-Tech, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Consumer and Medical industries are able to support key business objectives and create innovative products that meet both customer needs and comply with industry regulations.

For more information on PTC, please visit http://www.ptc.com.

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See Also

PTC website

TenLinks Pro/E directory - by TenLinks.com
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Additional News

Source: Material used in press releases is often supplied by external sources and used as is.