GWP Provide Help for Stannah Greenpower Challenge

Matt Dobson: Last Updated 16th February 2024

Posted In: Community / Charity | Company News

STEM Challenge for Young Engineers

Stannah team of young engineers compete with electric car at Goodwood

GWP are delighted to have helped a team of young engineers from Stannah Stair lifts, in the STEM focused Greenpower Challenge.

The event saw the engineering trainees, apprentices and interns produce and race an electric vehicle against their peers at the Goodwood circuit.

GWP supported the Stannah team by providing Correx® material which was used in the construction of the teams’ vehicle.

Stannah Greenpower F24+ team — The Stannah team of engineers with the vehicle they entered in the Greenpower challenge

About the event

The Joseph Stannah foundation – the charitable arm of GWP customer Stannah – has been working with Bourne Community College since 2017 to enter a team in the Greenpower Challenge. However, with the backing of Stannah engineer Andy Hoath, a team of junior Stannah employees and interns also entered this year.

The aim of the challenge is to get young people enthusiastic about STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), with the challenge being to design, build and race an electric vehicle.

Greenpower STEM Challenge — The Stannah electric vehicle - with GWP Correx® bodywork - on the start line before the race

Each vehicle can be built from scratch or by making use of a kit car. There are 3 different age categories available to enter –Formula Goblin (ages 9 – 11), Formula 24 (11 – 16) and the event the Stannah team entered, Formula 24+ (ages 16 – 25).

As well as providing time and expertise with regards to the build, Stannah also provide pit lane equipment, gazebo and racing livery.

How GWP helped

Having developed an electrical vehicle, the Stannah team were experiencing difficulties due to excessive current draw. This in turn resulted in dead batteries, and led to failing to finish the initial heat with 15 minutes still remaining.

Going back to the drawing board, the team realised a potential solution was to reduce the drag force. The thinking was that this would remove load from the motor, and as a result reduce current draw.

This is where GWP came in.

Donating a number of 3mm Correx® sheets (in the team colour red), at short notice, the team put these to use in constructing an aerodynamic body.

The results were as hoped – less drag, less load on the motor, and batteries that could last for the full one hour long race.

Stannah electric vehicle — Stannah have supported local Bourne Community College in previous events, as well as entering their own vehicle this year.

Results of the Greenpower F24+

Having developed the improved vehicle, the team took part in the F24+ Greenpower race, held on 30^th June. The event, which was an hour long, was held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

After some excellent driving the team placed 12th out of 25 competitors, which included some serious competition such as teams backed by Renishaw and Jaguar Land Rover.

They clocked up a total mileage of 26.4 miles, a top speed of 29.04mph, a fastest lap of 4’59 and an average speed of 25.9mph over the 2.36 mile course.

Everyone at GWP would like to congratulate the team on all their hard work in both in the build up to and the race itself, as well as the fantastic results they achieved.

The full list of team members is as follows:

Callum Buck
Jonathan Naish
Nick Vagg
Charlie Buck
Martin Piper
Sam Edgell
Desmond Bloemers
Mark Fomenko
Andy Hoath (who runs the sister car for Bourne College and provided the opportunity to start a new team)

Congratulations again to everyone who took part.

More About Greenpower

The Greenpower Education Trust is a UK based charity, with the aim of getting young people enthusiastic about science and engineering. This is primarily achieved by challenging them to design, build and race an electric car.

Having begun with a single race at Goodwood in 1999, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Greenpower programme. Over the past 2 decades it has grown to become an international event, including teams in every continent.

The charity provides various Kit Cars, which are suitable to be built in schools, colleges or elsewhere, by students or apprentices aged between 9 and 25.

Older participants can also design and build their own car to specific regulations, which, along with the kit cars, will be raced at various motorsport venues and Greenpower organised events.

In 2019, this has seen over 700 teams throughout the UK take part in more than 35 regional events. Teams from the USA, China, India, Poland and more also participate, with a number of countries operating their own competitions under the Greenpower license.

All of this culminates in the annual International Final, which takes place at the UK’s Silverstone circuit.

Ultimately, Greenpower is working to help address the engineering skills gap. It is estimated (by The Royal Academy of Engineering) that the UK alone will require more than 100,000 STEM graduates per year, plus over 50,000 technicians, between now and 2020.

Find Out More

For further information on the Greenpower Challenge and charity, please visit their website at www.greenpower.co.uk. You can also read more about Stannah’s charitable work by visiting www.stannah.com.