Against tough competition from nearly 600 pupils from primary schools all over the South West, the school’s brand-new Goblin cars – Quicksilver and Lightning Green – flew round the track as their budding engineers and Lewis Hamiltons competed in slaloms, drag and sprint races.
The school’s Lightning Green team were particularly impressed by the day’s efforts storming past the chequered flag with a bronze in the Drag Race Challenge category.
Truro High pupils have been building the cars at their weekly Greenpower Club since the autumn in preparation for the event which took place at Newquay Airport.
The IET Formula Goblin project aims to inspire children aged 9 – 11 years old to take an interest in engineering in a fun and innovative way. Each school is supplied with a kit car which has to be built by the team in the months leading up to race day. Cars are then entered into various categories for the chance of winning a Greenpower award.
The South West event is by far the biggest in the UK, incorporating almost half of Cornwall’s primary schools as well as schools from Devon and further afield.
“There has been a huge appetite in Prep School to match the success of our senior Greenpower teams and the results speak for themselves,” said Head of Prep Miss Annabel Ramsey. “Engineering can often be seen as a very male-dominated environment so it’s been incredibly inspiring to see the enthusiasm from our girls to get stuck in and support each other through every stage of the process. It’s been a real hit!”
The team would like to thank all its supporters including the RAF and Prep School parents especially Linus Surguy, Sally Jones, Matt Hosking, Jamie Findon and Steven Frankland who give hour after hour alongside Tim Wells to ensure the team is ready to hit the track.
The senior Greenpower team also have a busy few weeks ahead at the school where a pupil was last week told that she has won a sought-after spot on a work placement with one of the world’s leading Formula 1 teams, Williams F1.
They will be starting their season with their five-strong fleet – that’s the largest school team in the country – racing at Newquay before lining up against 80 competitors from all over the UK for the season’s inaugural race at the world famous circuit at Goodwood. The team is especially proud that their newest car, the 11th Hour, has broken into the top 100 places and now lies at number 92 in the UK. With some planned improvements this year the school hopes she will continue to progress.
