News

Students revved for national race

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 10:04:00

St Joseph's College students will push their pedal-powered car to the limit this weekend in a 24-hour national-level endurance race.

The year 8 technology students have put in hundreds of hours of training in the lead up to the RACV Energy Breakthrough in Maryborough, Victoria.
St Joseph’s College sports coordinator John Fleming said eight students from the class would compete in the human powered vehicle (HPV) category against about 200 secondary school teams.
“It’s our first time taking part in the event, and the students have learnt so much in preparation this year,” Mr Fleming said.
“While we’re not at the stage where we can build a vehicle, the students had to learn how to change the tyres and do minor repairs.
“They also developed teamwork and leadership skills, they know about nutrition and how to look after themselves, and now have experience in marketing, making presentations and securing sponsorship.
“They’ve done the training, so now it’s time for us to stand back and watch them band together to make this work.”
Mr Fleming said the students had raced once before in the UniSA HPV series in Adelaide.
“It was a great experience for them, and I was really proud of how they performed on and off the track – there were 190 cars and they came in at number 60,” he said.
“We’re better prepared this time. When we first started training, their driver changeovers were taking longer than it took to do a lap. But now they’ve got them down to under 30 seconds.”
Student Ned Torpey said before the big race, the team had to give a presentation, answer questions about the car, and demonstrate that they could drive the vehicle.
Ned, 14, said four boys and four girls would make up the St Joseph’s College team, Genesis.
“The team will be split in half – one group of four will be racing while the others are resting, having their nutrition, or doing some timing or mechanical work in the pit – and they’ll swap over every four hours,” he said.
“I’ve loved learning about how the car works, the aerodynamics and what it’s made out of. We’ve also learnt about body strength and what foods to eat, because racing for half an hour at a time is pretty exhausting and we have to keep going.
“It’s also been really fun making new friends and working together as a team.”