The College’s Greenpower team took their “Knife n Fork It!” car to their first real championship heat at Goodwood on Sunday 25th June. Out of 26 competitors, they placed 15th overall, 3rd in the kitcar class and were placed 2nd of the newcomers competing.
The race team was made up of Natasha Hockey (Driver), William Taylor and Ryan Conradie, all Cobham apprentices. Supporting the team at the event was Gerry Bishop of Cobham and Wayne Weedon, Engineering Lecturer at The College.
“It was successful day and we learnt quite a lot.” noted Mr Weedon, “We collected a lot of data on our performance and can definitely go faster and therefore cover more laps at Goodwood in the future, based on the data we collected from the cars new datalogger which was also being tested at the race. The car was able to complete 9 full laps of Goodwood which amounts to a total distance of 21.6 miles. We had a reserve of power left as we passed the chequered flag after 1 hour of racing, this taught us that we have to gear our car for slightly higher speeds the next time we compete at Goodwood.”
The team working on the Greenpower car have worked hard over the past couple of months giving up a lot of their spare time. The Greenpower IET Formula 24+ is all about designing and building an electric car with a standard motor and sets of batteries. There are strict regulations to follow, but creativity is encouraged.
Experience at these championship heats are a great way to put what they are learning into practice.
Will Taylor who has just completed his first year at the college as a Cobham level 2 apprentice said “We started the day off knowing that we didn't have the fastest car but it was very reliable, and this showed as the race went on and other cars were having mechanical issues and we were able to overtake them. We came 15th out of the 26 cars racing which was better than we thought we were going to achieve, we are all very happy with the result.”
The season consists of ten Championship rounds that are each of 60 minutes duration. Teams must enter at least three events including the Final Round at Rockingham Motor Speedway. A team's top three results determine their position in the final championship table.
