‘Lucy’ Page
“Lucy” takes to the hills AGAIN!
On Saturday 19th May, Newton Abbot College’s electric car club (known as “Team Lucy”) went to the 2012 Wiscombe Hill Climb as guests of Torbay Motor Club. The group of eleven students from Years 7-9 have been actively working on improving the green car (“Lucy”) since January 2012 using money raised through sponsorship. The car races throughout the year in the Greenpower Team Challenge Races which are a series of endurance laps open to schools and colleges throughout the country. The season opened recently at Silverstone with a pre-season opener. “Lucy” came 43 out of 50 which bearing in mind she had just been totally overhauled was a good result.
“Lucy” driven by Year 9 student Seb Cook builds up speed at Wiscombe
At Wiscombe, teacher John Musty and his team were invited to carry out a downhill demonstration run for the second year running. The car was driven once again by Year 9 student Seb Cook (during the lunch break at the hill climb). Students Harry Tansey and Charlie Mitchell were invited to speak to the spectators and provided a commentary from the public address system. Both the boys spoke confidently about their part in the project.
“Lucy” did her down-hill run at a maximum speed of 35mph this year (adding two miles an hour to last year’s maximum speed)!
As well as the demonstration run, a highlight for the team was the presentation of a cheque for £200 by Torbay Motor Club. Natasha Milner who collected the cheque on behalf of Team Lucy said:
“We are really pleased with new car body that Centrax had made for us and we appreciate all our sponsors give to us in time and funding. The cheque that we received on Saturday will help with the cost of a new motor. Going forward we would like to add gears to the car.”
Seb Cook, driver with “Team Lucy” at Wiscombe park
Lucy’s next outing will be to RAF St Morgan on 21st June. If you would like to sponsor the car please contact JMusty@nacollege.devon.sch.uk
“Lucy” takes to the hills!
Eight immaculately turned out students and their car called “Lucy” were invited to the Wiscombe Hill Climb as guests of the Torbay Motor Club. The exciting motoring event took place on Saturday 14th May and attracted a range of entrants driving road production vehicles through to single seater racing cars. The students, all boys from Years 7 to 11, were part of the team of people who built, maintain and run the College’s electric car in their own time under the supervision of Technology Teacher, Mr Musty. The kind invitation to Wiscombe allowed the students to meet and discuss car engineering with motoring enthusiasts, drivers and engineers. They set up a stand which displayed the car and dealt with the numerous technical questions thrown at them about how the Green car is put together.
As well as enjoying the thrills and spills of the day’s races the students had the privilege of watching “Lucy” run down a section of the track in front of the spectators. The unflappable Year 8 student, Seb Cook, was selected to be the driver which included a tight corner at the bottom of the run. “Lucy” managed an all time record of 33 m.p.h. cheered on by the students and the crowd!
The next venture for Team Lucy will be entry to the South West regional heat of the Greenpower Challenge at RAF St Mawgan on June 23rd. Last year the College came second opening the door to racing at Goodwood in the finals last October.
Running the battery powered car wouldn’t be possible without the sponsorship of number of local firms and people including the Torbay Motor Club (who generously presented the team with a cheque for £150 at Wiscombe), Mr & Mrs Flower, G & M Fabrications, The Co-op, WHS Paramedic Services and Newton Abbot based engineering firm, Centrax. Tony Wiltshire, a Director at Centrax, was at Wiscombe for the day’s events and was delighted to meet the Team. He said, “Original innovative thinking is vitally important to the Design and Manufacturing industry in the U.K. Capturing the imagination of youngsters in a project that encompasses technology and production skills is an excellent way of developing the engineers of the future.”
If you are interested in sponsoring Team Lucy or require any further information on the project please contact Mr Musty via his e-mail