May 25th saw the King Edward VI Five Ways Green Power Race Team compete in their first challenge since before the pandemic.
The Five Ways team, 'Five Wheels', comprising of 9 students in Years 9 and 10, had been out of action since the Covid-19 restrictions were put in place back in 2020, and as a result the original students in the team had got older and moved on. This year, however, with restrictions lifted, a new team has been put together, ready to compete in their first race of the year.
The group was put together by James Plimmer, Subject Leader of Design & Technology and Engineering at King Edward VI Five Ways, back in 2018. The school received a grant from Greenpower, a UK based charity which aims to start careers in engineering, helping to unlock potential and spark enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) through the excitement of motorsport. This along with support from Siemens, paid for 50% of the kit needed to start competing at Greenpower events across the UK.
The 'Five Wheels' students organised a bake sale in order to fundraise for entry into this particular event, held at Mallory Park in Leicester. The funds also helped pay for new batteries and materials.
Mr Plimmer explains "the aim in each race is to travel the greatest distance in 90 minutes using two 12v batteries. Teams are not allowed to change batteries during a race, they are only allowed to use the batteries and motor provided by Greenpower and they must pit twice in each race to change drivers".
Unfortunately as the batteries had not been used properly for so long, they went flat in each race. However, the team still did really well, coming 12th out of 16 in their class. This is a fantastic effort considering they were unable to compete for the last 20 minutes.
"Hopefully all of these problems will be ironed out ready for the next meeting. This was part of the journey for the team as it was their first meeting, a steep learning curve. They demonstrated excellent team work throughout the entire race; it was an opportunity to see how they compare to other teams, learn how to race against other schools and clubs and develop a greater understanding of the sport", Mr Plimmer comments.
The team are now seeking sponsorship and will be conducting further fundraising activities so that they can continue preparing upgrades for the car, with the aim of going faster and enhancing reliability.
They look forward to another race meeting later in the year.
