The Greenpower Education Trust aims to promote design engineering by inviting schools to build a single seater electric car with the aim of covering the greatest distance in a 90 minute race. Earlier in the year the regional heat took place at the Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit, which is well known for hosting the Revival and the Festival of Speed, but less well known as a venue for hosting the long established Greenpower competition. The smell of high octane fuel and symphony of highly tuned racing cars might have been replaced by the almost silent hum of electric motors, but the event was no less exciting for the teams entering the competition, one of which was our very own Eton team.
Several boys invested their time out of school to work on the car, which was finally ready for action at the regional heat on Sunday 19th June. The Eton team, comprising of project leader Adair Verey, Nicholas Dennison and Harry Herring worked closely, trouble shooting several technical problems to ensure the car stayed the course. Each of the boys took a turn driving and given that this event was the first outing for the new and untested car, the team was pleased to finish the race having covered 28.4 miles, thus earning a place in the finals.
The Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northampton was the venue for the national finals of the Greenpower competition which took place on Sunday 16th October. Torrential rain soaked the track and drivers were tested for their ability to stay the course in atrocious conditions. It was a relief when 90 minutes after the start, the Eton car crawled over the finish line with it's batteries almost depleted. The past year has been a tremendous learning experience and the team is brimming with ideas for modifications to the car which should improve it's performance in the coming year.
