The challenge is open to anyone aged 9 – 19 years old. There are two classes of entry: Development and Professional Classes.

Development class students can be as young as 9 years old but must be in at most 8th grade. It is suggested that students in 5th-8th grade participate in the Development Class.

Professional Class students can be any age 9-19 years old (no grade restriction). The Professional Class is reccomended for high school students, grade 9th-12th grade.

Have younger students? The DENFORD Primary STEM Challenge is aimed at elementary school students competing in the classroom.

Visit Competition Classes to learn more.

As a team, you will register to take part in your local Regional Finals where you will compete against other teams from your area. Regional winners will go through to the National Finals to compete again against other regional winners for the titles of US National Champions. This process is repeated around the world in over 65 countries where National Champions from every country are invited to compete at the World Finals. They’ll go head to head to become the STEM Racing World Champions and lift the World Champions trophy.

Yes, a school or organization can register up to three teams in each competition class for a competition with a Platinum Membership.

While team members do not all have to attend the same school, for registration purposes, teams must associate with one of their schools. Generally, this is the school that most of the team members attend or where your Lead Adult teaches.

A team must consist of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 team members.

Some teams also have unofficial members, called support members, who work alongside the official team members but who do not compete at competition (often to get exposed to the competition before creating their own team the next year).

Yes! All teams must compete at the Regional Finals to qualify for the National Finals in order to be eligible to compete at the National Finals in April.

All Professional Class teams are required to use the Official F1 Model Block for their F1 in Schools race car. Body material will be scrutinized at the regional and national level and is a technical regulation requirement.

Development Class teams may manufacture their car body via 3D printing or CNC manufacturing with the Official F1 Model Block.

The World Finals takes place on an annual basis at a different location each year. The locations are usually set to coincide with a Formula One™ Grand Prix. Past locations have been Melbourne, Australia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; London, England; Singapore; Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Austin, USA.

Your team must first compete in your in-country competition. The best teams from each country will then be put forward and will have the chance to represent their country along with teams from around the world at the STEM Racing World Finals.

In order to be eligible to compete at the US National Finals, teams must first affiliate with STEM Racing USA (check out the “Affiliation” page). Affiliating your team gets you access to the Team Portal resources and links to register for competitions - it’s that simple! Once you are affiliated, you can register for the Regional Finals, and then qualify for Nationals!

For more, check out the Steps to Competition page. Affiliation is open to all US students (no prior experience necessary)!

You can still affiliate your team so you can gain access to the Team Portal as your team works to prepare for future competition years! Resources such as the Virtual Training Guide and occasional live informational sessions may help your team along your way. If you need any additional help along the way, just reach out.