The Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series is making an early bid to find the next generation of Grand Prix stars - by introducing the championship to children aged between four and 11. The kids on pole position for this initiative were from the St Matthias primary school in Malvern, Worcestershire, and on Friday (20 May) they were treated to a visit from reigning British F3 National class champion Menasheh Idafar and the T-Sport team, who brought along the Dallara-Volkswagen which Menasheh raced to a podium finish at Oulton Park last month. The project is the brainchild of St Matthias teacher Emma Rowe, wife of HayFisher motorsport TV cameraman Martin, who enlisted the help of the championship promoter, the SRO Motorsports Group, to help bring motorsport alive for her pupils. They were shown a film about British Formula 3 in school assembly and then set a challenge to design, build and refine a racing buggy of their own to be demonstrated and judged by Menasheh and T-Sport boss Russell Eacott. "The younger children had to design their own buggy, and those aged between seven and 11 had not only to design one but build it as well," said Emma, "and then demonstrate that it could start and stop properly. The idea behind the project is to get kids who might otherwise not want to sit down and 'learn' in the traditional way to pick things up by doing hands-on stuff, like researching, designing and building." The judging panel, which also comprised SRO's Fiona Pawley, faced some tough decisions about which designs should claim the top prizes, which included special medals struck by Aford Awards, the company which makes all the trophies for British Formula 3 and British GT. In addition, 12 children were selected to be VIP guests at October's end-of-season Silverstone rounds of British F3. "The kids had a ball," said Russell Eacott. "They really enjoyed our visit and were attentive and so enthusiastic; it was a pleasure to be there and to see them enjoying it. People who work in motorsport sometimes forget how lucky they are, and events like this are a great reminder. Hopefully our visit will have enthused some of the children and got them thinking seriously about their studies, and maybe even a future in motorsport." In addition to the excitement of the competition, the pupils were given viewings of Menasheh's car by the driver himself, were shown around the T-Sport truck and also given talks on race car engineering and on motorsport media and PR by championship TV presenter Di Binks. Championship sponsor Cooper Tire handed out hats and posters to the kids, and Rockingham circuit has joined in the 'family fun' spirit of the occasion by offering a family ticket offer for the 3/4 September British F3 and GT meeting. Families using the ticket code F3STMAT2011 will be able to get two adult tickets and up to four under-14s into the track for £20. "The enthusiasm of the children for this project has been phenomenal," said Fiona Pawley. "We were extremely impressed by the quality of the work they have produced and the intelligent and wide-ranging questions they asked of T-Sport. We look forward to welcoming the winners to Silverstone at the end of the season."