Hot on the heels of the National Rocketry Final, 11 members of the STEM Club from the Fifth and Sixth Form took part in the Greenpower International Final at Goodwood Motor Circuit, following our qualification from the National Events.
The event saw 80 teams of young people aged 11-25 from across the country race electric cars that they had designed and built themselves – a unique, hands-on initiative that aims to spark an interest in STEM in young people.
An excellent day was had by all, Epsom was the second-fastest car in class for the practice session. However, the team had to make some gearing changes in order to complete the 80-minute race. The competition was fierce and Epsom ended the day 24th in class out of over 70 entries.
Paul van Veggel, chief executive of Greenpower Education Trust, said: “It was great to see so many teams here today to give the 2021 season a brilliant finale. The fact that we had 80 teams in attendance after the difficulties schools have faced recently is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the teachers and team leaders, as well as the young people. We now look forward to 2022 with the hopes of running a full, unrestricted year of electric racing.”
Here Amy Scerri reflects on the event:
“I was very excited to be racing in the Greenpower F24 international finals at Goodwood racetrack, and we were all very proud of the car that we had made.
In the practice round, I went out first and was very excited to test out the new adjustments we made to the car. Driving the car at Goodwood racetrack was a surreal experience and am very grateful for the opportunity.
After my first lap we found out that the car’s top speed had increased by more than 10mph and I had managed to get the second-fastest lap of the track, in our class. Once the practice had finished, we were ranked second in class and therefore predicted to come in second place. We were all extremely pleased with this.
However, due to our top speed increasing by so much, our motor had reached a temperature of 94 degrees Celsius. This was very bad news as it meant the battery was using up too much power and we wouldn’t be able to finish the race.
We then decided that the only way we would finish the race would be to change the gear ratios, which would make the car significantly slower. We finished adjusting the gears just before the start of the race and went straight out. We were all very nervous.
Our batteries lasted the entire race (80 minutes), due to our last-minute adjustments, and we ended up coming 24th in our class.
Overall, this experience was extremely enjoyable and has helped fuel my ambition to pursue a career in STEM, even more. I got to meet many teams of likeminded people who were open to explaining their car’s design to us, which will help us when designing our new car.”
