Greenpower International Finals at Goodwood | Epsom College
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Greenpower International Finals at Goodwood

Each year, Epsom's STEM pupils design, build and race an electric-powered car against teams from schools, colleges and youth groups across the UK. Last weekend, the team took part in the international finals.

The Greenpower International finals at Goodwood are the culmination of the season, which runs from April to October across several different race circuits throughout Europe. The finals saw over 100 teams from Austria, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Spain and the UK take part.

Epsom College qualified for the F24 Kit Car category for participants aged 11-16, with our Fifth Form (Year 11) team representing the College accompanied by two Upper Sixth (Year 13) mentors.

The team passed scrutineering and the car went out on track for the 90-minute practice session. This allowed the team to test the car, complete with a new nose cone, data logging and gear ratio. Sophia Pierre and Erin Speed completed a number of laps and the car was in good shape.

Following practice, the team set the car up for the first qualification race, with Aran Pramoj, Harry Shan and Tom Lovett behind the wheel of EC Racer. Tom made an excellent start, followed by Harry and then Aran to bring the car home. The team did well, placing 51st out of over 90 cars and 25th in class out of over 50 cars, although lost power towards the end of the race.

Ahead of the final race, the team changed the gearing ratio to try to extend the distance covered. Erin Speed, Sophia Pirre and Zoe Moir took over the driving for the final race. Zoe and Erin made a superb start and Sophia drove the car home, covering a total distance of 33.4 miles, an Epsom record.

Dr Telfer-Mason said: “It has been a superb season this year for us, with three race teams taking part in six different events and the finals at Goodwood. This season we achieved our first podium finishing third in class at Castle Coombe and he students have learnt so much that we can put into developing the car for next season!”

The STEM racing team would like to thank Dan Bailey (OE) CEO of Veloce Racing and XXV Sportswear for their sponsorship this season. Dr Telfer-Mason and Mr Johnstone for giving up their Sundays to take us to the race events and running the STEM Club. Finally, a big thank you to Ian Clarke and Glynn Peckham for driving us to the races.