Penair Engineering

                                                                  

   

                                     The Final - Goodwood

The Beaulieu motor museum acted as an inspirational stop off on the way up to the national final. All of the pupils clearly enjoyed themselves and were fascinated by the history of motoring.

The morning of the final started with a cooked breakfast in our youth hostel which set the pupils up for the day. It was a cold fresh morning and the weather looked like it was going to be on our side. An hour later we arrived at the famous Goodwood race track and it was clear that the competition continues to grow year on year. The paddocks were full of  hopeful teams and Greenpower had brought in a large LED screen to broadcast the event to the thousands of competitors and spectators that lined the track. The practice session went vey well and it looked like our cars were ready for the final. All the teams worked well together and were a true credit to themselves and Penair school.

The grid looked amazing at the start of the final. The teams all basked in the glorious autumn sunshine and vibrant colours of the 75 cars contrasted with the lush green grass that lay trackside. Whilst the Greenpower team sorted out the final preparations the teams were interviewed in front of the numerous spectators. Whilst not all of the final teams were interviewed, all of our teams were. I am sure the students must have been very nervous about this but it did not come across when they spoke. Final preparations over the final got underway to a huge cheer from the spectators. All of cars started fine and continued to run well for the first half of the race. Blue raptor and Eco raptor were slipping down the field though. It was now we wished we had changed the gearing on Eco - Raptor. The team had decided against it because it was never a real contender due its large frontal area (and parachute at the back) so it was decided that if it is working that we shouldn’t be changed and would be used to test our new technology. The Blue raptor team could change their gearing and advised their driver to go faster. This was unfortunately too much for the old motor and caused the team to retire before the end of the race. The Eco raptor did finish the race but a poor pit stop call caused it to finish much further down the pack than it should have. Raptor Fusion our flagship car continued to go well for the entire final and ended up coming fourth overall. The team were disappointed not to get on the podium but are happy with the result considering it was the cars first season.

The eco-raptor was also recognised nationally for it's innovative technology and achieved the Siemens innovation award. The team are delighted that all their hard work paid off and look forward to developing the technology for next season.

Penair Engineering would like to thank all of their sponsors for their support. Sponsorship has undoubtedly helped keep the Penair engineering team running.

                                                    Raptor Fusion flying past its rivals.

                                     The Eco-Raptor team with the Siemens innovation award.