Sir Thomas Boughey KMF Race Day at Darley Moor

Race Day finally arrived on a very sunny Wednesday 9^th July for the KMF Young Engineer of the Year Project. This was the culmination of the KMF ‘Young Engineer of the Year’ annual project run by local company KMF to inspire the next generation of engineers.

This year Newcastle-under-Lyme College has sponsored a fantastic group of Year 10 pupils from Sir Thomas Boughey High School who along with their Design and Technology teacher Laura Tunstall have designed, built and finally raced their car against 18 other local high school entrants at Darley Moor Race Track in Derbyshire.

NULC school relationship manager, Lucy Hancock, liaised with the school throughout the project with NULC’s college lecturers from graphic design, delivering taster sessions to produce the car artwork and with engineering staff and students assisting on the Build Day. The school liaison team supported the school on Race Day and was attended by the College’s senior management team and lecturing staff. NULC engineering student, Matthew Humphries, did a great job helping out both on the build and race days and also driving the car for the Sponsors Race.

The pupils had a fantastic day racing their battery powered Greenpower cars around the Darley Moor racetrack in Ashbourne. The pupils demonstrated excellent teamwork skills, co-ordinating the driver change overs and making sure the car ran as efficiently as possible round the track and confidently dealing with the challenges of the day. Host of the Channel 4’s, The Gadget Show, Jason Bradbury also attended the day and gave out the awards in a closing ceremony.

Sir Thomas Boughey’s Head teacher Stephen Gould, said: “It was our first venture into this type of project and the backing of the College was so influential in the many positive outcomes for our students from this wonderful opportunity. Such has been the success of the event for us as a school that planning is already underway for future events”.

If you would like to organise an activity with Newcastle-under-Lyme College please contact the school liaison team, Gareth Hughes and Tara Capper on 01782 254347 or email schools@nulc.ac.uk.