On Saturday 28th April the Engineering team took a mini-bus trip to the legendary race track Silverstone. We stayed in Oxford for a day in a nice Youth Hostel. Unfortunatley the weather was miserable but the team stuck to it and we raced our new car Raptor Fusion on the sunday morning.


When we arrived at the track the team were awestruck at the fact that we were about to race on a track many F1 legends had also raced on. The first few minutes were dedicated to making the car waterproof by covering the carbon fibre chassis. Once that was finished we sent our first driver for the practice laps, Josh. The drivers on the practice laps had to test the car andtell the actual drivers were to brake, where the best racing line was and how the car preformed in the wet. They were also told to drivea "flying lap" to see how fast the car could really go. Our fastest lap time was 3 minutes 37 seconds and that ws set by our driver tom. that particular lap was faster then last year's national champions Rotary Racer.

After the practice laps there was a team a team breifing for the drivers and pit crew.the breifing was short but very to the point. It was to warn all the drivers that if they started to feel too cold they had to pit as 5 drivers had to leave with hypothermia. they then went on to tell us that sme people had strayed onto the international silverstone track, they said that we were to keep off the international track because there was an F4 race on at the same time and " it could get messy". as to prove his point an engine could be heard revving.  

as the first driver prepared to leave there was a final word of warning from one of the adults, chris." many of the cars out on the track have protruding wheels.as today there is a strong cross breeze it could mean that cars could spin out of control, so keep your distance from all the cars!" the first driver set off and performed brilliantly, lapping Richard Lander's can in under 5 laps. At the end of his stint we were running around 3rd and the next driver set off. unfortunatelyour new telemetry system failed to give us the voltage of the batteries and so we had to read it manually.  our drivers continued a stunning performance and we finished the race in 2nd with richard lander 3 places behind in 5th.

we decided that we should stay for the awards ceremony and waited until 2 0'clock to receive our cups and medals. the winnig team was a collage and we were rather impressed with our performance.Giddy with joy we got into the mini-bus and travelled home to our beds after an exhausting weekend.

written by, Josh Fann.   

Penair’s ‘Blue Raptor’ wins the Greenpower Challenge

Penair School’s ‘Blue Raptor’, has outpaced 13 cars from across the South West to win the regional Formula 24 Green Power Car Challenge- a competition for school students to design, build and race electric cars. This is not the first time Penair’s car has won the regional heat. Last year, they won with their previous kit car- ‘White Stripes’.

The engineering team, led by Martin Erents, Chris Parker and Spencer Hosen is thrilled to be going to Goodwood.  The pupils have spent many hours after school designing, building and testing these cars. These pupils are the designers and engineers of the future and to see the cars not only running really well- but winning- is a fantastic achievement.   The team is now sponsored by Inspired Cycle Engineers, who have helped the kids to understand the importance of weight and aerodynamics in vehicle design. 'Blue Raptor' also won the title of the best engineered car and will now travel to Goodwood in October to compete against cars from across the country in the National Green Power Championship.