In a small Australian country town each year, only a 20 minute drive from our (even smaller) country town is an event that celebrates engineering, design, sustainability and innovation whose participants are all aged 6 to 17 years.
It began in 1991 with 23 teams, in this its eighteenth year there will be over 350 teams from all over Australia and the first international entry coming from the United States.
The RACV Energy Breakthrough’s main aim is to encourage participants to examine and use the latest technology while considering its impact on the environment and the way people live locally and globally.
But really, it is about building vehicles and racing them.
We are talking human-powered, solar-powered, battery-powered or wind powered machines, all built by school students and all engaged in the physics of wind resistance, engineering of motors and learning through practical application of their theories and ideas.
There are a raft of categories – human powered vehicles (HPVs), hybrid-energy vehicles, pushcarts and Innovations in
Technology which requires students to design small crafts which must transport a can of soft drink the length of a pool of water without using fossil fuels (A
favorite amongst Primary students).
More details over the fold...
The Main Event
The main event is the 24 hour race of Human and Hybrid Powered Vehicles.
These two categories are home to some of the most innovative and ingenious designs, the Hybrid category is open to vehicles powered by a combination of at least two energy sources. The Human
Powered Vehicles must have three wheels are are completed propelled by pedal power. The aim is to see how far, how fast and how efficient these vehicles can be.
Limited in energy size and fuel restrictions, teams and vehicle designs must carefully balance speed and fuel conservation to remain competitive right through to the end of the 24th hour.
Arguably the most challenging and difficult category to master, design specifications include a maximum length of 2.7 metres and a choice of single or two-seat configuration. Size restrictions have been set so that production motor vehicles are not simply modified and entered.
Leading teams can complete almost
900kms in 24 hours, with advanced materials such as carbon fibre, kevlar and titanium infiltrating vehicle designs.
The Numbers
- 200 pedal powered, three wheeled human powered vehicles (HPVs)
- Top speed of best HPVs on flat road =
greater than 60km p/h - 32 hybrid powered vehicles
- 60 Pushcarts
- 30 Innovations in Technology
- 7000 students directly involved
- 20,000+ people involved indirectly in development
Overseas Competitors – Team Pecos
The excitement this year is all about the first ever international team competing. Eleven students and nine adults have made the flight out from Pecos Independent District School and will be competing in the 24-hour race. ____
They are also on a fact finding mission, as they are interested in how they might be able to take the model back to their own community and establish a similar event that will be great for the local economy and for students wanting to engage in this type of project and event from across New Mexico and possibly beyond.
This weekend
So, this weekend my children and I will be heading west to Marlborough to watch the outcome of months and months of research, design and application take to the roads. We will be keeping an eye out for Team Pecos and hope to get an interview or two. We will be reporting back on some of the designs and outcomes of the event. We’ll be keen to see if any vehicle can crack the 1000km distance barrier in 24 hours, rumor has it a couple of local teams are feeling confident they can reach the required average speeds to get pretty close.
(image of Team Pecos from bendigoadvertiser.com.au)
