Students at The Weald were celebrating this week as they took second place in the national championships of the Greenpower Car race held at Rockingham Speedway near Corby, Northamptonshire.  The Greenpower Trust encourages schools to build electric cars which are then driven by students and are powered by two car batteries. 

Qualifying races take place around the country, including Goodwood race track, Dunsfold and Silverstone.  Students, along with parents, have built two cars called “The Purple Predator” and “The Black Bullet”.

Over 800 cars from a similar number of schools enter the competition on an annual basis.  The winners of the qualifying races, plus fastest losers, then go forward to the national championship held in October.  Students and cars at The Weald School qualified at Goodwood earlier in the year.  Cars qualify by competing the greatest distance over two one-and-a-half hour races.  Year 13 student, John Woodhead, explained, “Each race must have at least three drivers and the car runs on a single set of batteries.  It’s a fine balance getting the gearing right, along with a number of other factors, including driver selection and the electronics”. 

“The Purple Predator” was placed third in both races in the final, and because of the cars it beat, was placed second overall.  Year 8 student, Alistair Trollope, one of the drivers, explained, “Driving the car is really exciting.  Although the cars only travel at about 30 mph you are only a few centimetres off the ground.  Our car goes very well and so there is a lot of overtaking involved”.  Team manager, Keith Russell, commented “We were thrilled to come second.  We were the reigning champions but were beaten by a worthy victor.  Second out of 800 cars is still a fantastic achievement”.