Car designs included a bear and cannon while one school recycled the packaging their car was delivered in to make its bodywork as the pupils and students took part in a range of colourful events from drag races to a 90-minute endurance event on a special street circuit in the centre of Hull.
All seven built their cars in the build up to the race thanks to funding from Drax Group, which provided the kits to build the cars and all the necessary tools.
The £35,000 initiative from Drax is part of its efforts to inspire more children to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and create the skilled workforce of the future that the Northern Powerhouse needs.
Selby Abbey Primary School’s car ‘The Cannon’ – named after their teacher Stacey Cannon by the pupils.
Engineers and staff from the power station also joined in, spending time with each of the teams to help assemble the cars ahead of today’s race, organised by the Greenpower Education Trust and sponsored by Drax.
Drax Power CEO Andy Koss said:
“The commitment from the schools has been exceptional – it’s really sparked the students’ imaginations, which is what this project is all about.
“Finding fun and exciting projects like this to engage young people and encourage them to study STEM subjects is the key to ensuring the next generation of potential employees has the skills that innovative businesses like ours need.”
He added:
“Too many children in the North are falling behind their counterparts in other areas of the UK when it comes to education and skills, leading to a serious skills shortage for employers. We want to change that with initiatives like this one.”
Pupils from Selby Abbey Primary School meet Lord Prescott prior to their race.
Stacey Cannon, a teacher at Selby Abbey Primary, whose pupils named their car The Cannon in her honour, said:
“I’m really proud of them all and the effort they have put in to this and I’m proud to see the car out there with my name on it.
“I think they have grown so much through this especially in relation to the STEM subjects. We’ve taught all subjects for the past few weeks by using the car and, as a teacher, it will hopefully open their minds to the world of engineering.”
ENDS
Media contacts:
Mark Duffell
MCD Communications Ltd
E: [email protected]
T: 07969080272
Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07712677177
Main image caption: Selby College student Sam Bygrave races the college’s F24 in a 60-minute endurance race
Notes to Editors
- Four primary schools – Barwic Parade, Camblesforth, Selby Community and Selby Abbey – received a 15mph Goblin G2 battery-powered car, which students and teachers then assembled.
- Older students from Selby High School, Holy Family Catholic High School and Selby College built the more powerful Formula 24 car, which can reach speeds of up to 30mph.
- Both cars took around 15 hours to build, with the teams also designing their own bodywork.
- The primary school teams took part in a series of drag and slalom races in their Goblin cars. The top drivers from each team then raced against each other in a final 1km circuit through the city centre.
- Students from the secondary schools and colleges raced the F24 cars around the same circuit in an endurance test. The teams had to switch between three drivers and maintain their cars during the race and the winner was the team which completed the most laps in 90 minutes.
About Drax
Drax Group’s ambition is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. Its 2,600-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of flexible, low carbon and renewable electricity generation assets across Britain. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies six percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted two thirds of Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan. It also owns and operates four gas power stations in England.
B2B supply:
Drax owns two B2B energy supply businesses:
- Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity and energy services to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
- Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity, energy services and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.
Pellet production:
Drax owns and operates three pellet mills in the US South which manufacture compressed wood pellets (biomass) produced from sustainably managed working forests. These pellet mills supply around 20% of the biomass used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.
For more information visit www.drax.com
About Greenpower
- The Greenpower Education Trust was founded in 1999 to inspire young people into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through the unique challenge of designing, building and racing an electric street car.
- The event in Hull on April 28 is hosted by Greenpower and Green Port Hull, which is supported by the Regional Growth Fund, and will feature three race categories contested on a 1km track:
- Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Formula Goblin for nine to 11-year-olds tackling drag and slalom challenges;
- IET Formula 24 for 11 to 16-year-olds taking part in two 90-minute endurance races;
- IET Formula 24+ is a one-hour race for 16 to 25-year-olds.
