James Kenealey morson blog
It was a race against time for a team of students as they battled to take part in a new competition aimed at inspiring the next generation of engineers.
Fred Longworth was one of several school teams taking part in the Blair Projects' ProtoEV Electric Go-Kart Challenge, the first school’s competition where pupils learn how to convert petrol go-karts into fully electric racing machines and compete against other teams to see which is the fastest. The challenge also involved the students learning how to design and digitally manufacture parts using 3D printing.
Following the theft of the pupils' equipment with just days to go until the build was due to be completed, Morson International, Morson Projects and the Morson Maker Space at the University of Salford moved to donate the full amount (£4,000) to allow the team the opportuinity to get back on the track and compete at Three Sisters Racing Circuit on the final test day.
The Blair Project is a youth-led social enterprise which uses motorsport to attract young people to pursue a career in science and engineering in an attempt to reduce the skills gap facing many areas of the industries.
With the build already behind schedule, we caught up with the teams at the engineering consultants CAL International in Knowsley to see if the teams, including the Race Invaders team from Fred Longworth High School, would be able to complete the challenging builds on time and find out just what the conversion of a petrol go-kart to an electric on requires. We then visited the track with them just a week later to see how the karts performed under testing.
Watch episode one below and find out how the teams got on!
