Goodwood hosted the first Greenpower Education Trust International Final, with teams from the USA, South Africa, Portugal, and Poland joining established and new competitors.
The F24 and F24+ races took place on Sunday 12 October, with Black Bullet, from the Weald School, declared the IET Formula 24 overall champions; Cullimore Racing’s Jet taking the IET Formula 24+ title; while Reprobation, from Renishaw, won the Silverline Corporate Challenge. For full details of the winning cars and teams’ positions, visit the
Greenpower website.
Andy McLachlan, a long-serving committee member on the South Eastern Region, has supported Greenpower’s racing ethos for many years.
He explained: “F24 is for secondary school age participants; while F24+ is open to any age group, allowing additional entrants from sixth-form, tertiary colleges, apprentice schemes and companies. All cars have to use a 24-Volt electric motor and two 12-Volt batteries, supplied by Greenpower.
"That creates the level playing field. After that, it’s up to the teams to find ways to make their vehicle efficient, aerodynamic and individual.”
The Institution’s stand at Greenpower was organised, hosted and valiantly supported by volunteers from South Eastern Region and Automobile Division Southern Centre (ADSC) committees. This year the Institution's stand was in the historic Goodwood pits, with the University of Sussex's 2014 Formula Student car on display; 2015 FS team members; and an interactive model racing activity for children.
The Institution sponsored the Portfolio Award, which Andy and his colleagues developed with Greenpower, to add an extra dimension to the process of bringing a car to race.
He explained: “Volunteers are busy from seven o’clock in the morning till into the evening. IMechE members and other volunteers use our expertise to carry out scrutineering before the racing begins, checking the safety and compliance of around 80 cars, in six pit bays.”
Andy’s fellow volunteers include Richard Atkins, who is education liaison officer in SE Region; Mike Stanton, also from the regional committee; and Mike Croker, a key member of the ADSC for whom engaging children in automotive’s green future is a great passion.
Andy explained that many of the Institution's volunteers commit themselves to working with schools throughout the year. He said, however, that all volunteers were appreciated for the time they gave at the final event or during outreach work. He emphasised that even a relatively small commitment was always valued, and made a difference.
Andy said: “In the South Eastern Region, we put most of our effort into the Greenpower’s Goblins, introducing primary school children to engineering. They read the drawings and use simple tools like spanners and screwdrivers, learning basic skills through working with their hands. The schools can also develop other areas of the curriculum, such as getting the children to write letters requesting sponsorship and understanding basic electrical circuits.”
At the finals, the Institution gave a prize to the best log, or record, of a car’s design, plan and build.
“The Portfolio Award was introduced for the Goblins because we wanted to be able to reward the effort that the children had put into the construction of the car before it was raced. Ideally, the portfolio will chart how the car is built and comes together. This provides evidence of the students’ work, communication, and design decisions,” Andy explained. The award was such a success for the Goblins that it was adapted and introduced for F24 and F24+ last year.
He added that he derived great satisfaction from being part of young peoples’ journeys into engineering: “Working with youngsters who are discovering engineering in such an exciting arena is incredibly rewarding. Each year-group that works with their team’s car comes up with interesting and imaginative ideas to improve and refine it year after year. It’s great to see my own passion for engineering being taken forward in successive generations.”
He concluded: “It’s so rewarding to see young people becoming inspired by their own engineering achievements, and that is something that I would encourage anybody, who has even just a small amount of time to spare, to experience.”
Visit the
Greenpower website for more details.