Sakura Racing
Our Birth
I've always loved F1.
When I was a child, my father would often tell me stories about Ayrton Senna, who was once the world champion in the Formula One World Championship and drove for McLaren Honda.
At the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, I watched a live F1 broadcast with my father for the first time in my life. There, I saw a dark blue car with the Honda logo that my father had once spoken of racing around the Red Bull Ring. Then came the Grand Prix final. I witnessed with my own eyes the moment Honda won the Grand Prix for the first time in 13 years.
At that moment, I was deeply moved. I realized that there was a sport in the world that had so much passion and that so much emotion had been put into a single product.
A few years later, I was in high school.
At my high school, we have a class called "Science and Mathematics Exploration," and I wanted to explore "education," which I have been interested in since I was in junior high school. That's when I came across STEM education and STEM Racing™.
When I first learned that there was a STEM education competition hosted by F1, I felt like my longing for F1 had been awakened once again. And I strongly felt that STEM Racing™ was the only stage for me to achieve this project.
At this point, a question may arise: "Why did I want to explore education in the first place?"
When I graduated from elementary school and went on to a local junior high school, I witnessed firsthand the reality that many of my talented friends were leaving their hometown to go to schools in the city.
I was deeply shocked by this situation, and at the same time, I wondered, "Is there really something that can only be done at a school that is far away?"
"If we stay here and just attend classes, will we never be able to see or reach places we can't reach? No, that's not the case. If we take action ourselves, surely we can reach those places, even if it's a huge wall like the world?" I began to think.
The aim of this competition is not simply to build a fast machine. It is a highly practical competition that requires design, marketing, fundraising, presentations and even collaboration with local communities and businesses.
"Changing education through local high school students aiming for the world"
That is the future I want to aim for, and I believe that is the essence of this challenge.
Of course, I started out alone.
Thinking that "the only way to get someone involved is to express my feelings in words," I decided to attend an information session for upcoming events with students from the year below me. There, I shared my enthusiasm, ideas, and vision with the first-year students. As a result, more and more of my friends said they wanted to join us, and we have now formed "Hana -SAKURA- Racing" with six of our friends.
"Nothing's been completed yet."
But there is definite value in this time spent trying to create something from scratch. This challenge is not just for me. I believe it will only be meaningful if it involves many people - local people, companies, and the future of education.
This initiative is intended to give back our "everything" to the future generations that will carry the future of Yamaguchi Prefecture and even Japan.
It all started with a desire to make a change.
花-SAKURA-Racing Project Manager Kyohei Nomura
When I was a child, my father would often tell me stories about Ayrton Senna, who was once the world champion in the Formula One World Championship and drove for McLaren Honda.
At the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, I watched a live F1 broadcast with my father for the first time in my life. There, I saw a dark blue car with the Honda logo that my father had once spoken of racing around the Red Bull Ring. Then came the Grand Prix final. I witnessed with my own eyes the moment Honda won the Grand Prix for the first time in 13 years.
At that moment, I was deeply moved. I realized that there was a sport in the world that had so much passion and that so much emotion had been put into a single product.
A few years later, I was in high school.
At my high school, we have a class called "Science and Mathematics Exploration," and I wanted to explore "education," which I have been interested in since I was in junior high school. That's when I came across STEM education and STEM Racing™.
When I first learned that there was a STEM education competition hosted by F1, I felt like my longing for F1 had been awakened once again. And I strongly felt that STEM Racing™ was the only stage for me to achieve this project.
At this point, a question may arise: "Why did I want to explore education in the first place?"
When I graduated from elementary school and went on to a local junior high school, I witnessed firsthand the reality that many of my talented friends were leaving their hometown to go to schools in the city.
I was deeply shocked by this situation, and at the same time, I wondered, "Is there really something that can only be done at a school that is far away?"
"If we stay here and just attend classes, will we never be able to see or reach places we can't reach? No, that's not the case. If we take action ourselves, surely we can reach those places, even if it's a huge wall like the world?" I began to think.
The aim of this competition is not simply to build a fast machine. It is a highly practical competition that requires design, marketing, fundraising, presentations and even collaboration with local communities and businesses.
"Changing education through local high school students aiming for the world"
That is the future I want to aim for, and I believe that is the essence of this challenge.
Of course, I started out alone.
Thinking that "the only way to get someone involved is to express my feelings in words," I decided to attend an information session for upcoming events with students from the year below me. There, I shared my enthusiasm, ideas, and vision with the first-year students. As a result, more and more of my friends said they wanted to join us, and we have now formed "Hana -SAKURA- Racing" with six of our friends.
"Nothing's been completed yet."
But there is definite value in this time spent trying to create something from scratch. This challenge is not just for me. I believe it will only be meaningful if it involves many people - local people, companies, and the future of education.
This initiative is intended to give back our "everything" to the future generations that will carry the future of Yamaguchi Prefecture and even Japan.
It all started with a desire to make a change.
花-SAKURA-Racing Project Manager Kyohei Nomura