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An unparalleled performance by senior students from Mahurangi College saw them finish first and second in the 2023 EVolocity Challenge held at Mount Smart Stadium earlier this month.
Their success, against schools from around New Zealand, was described by design technology teacher Paul Lenihan as “incredible”.
“There was tough competition, especially from high schools from the Waikato and Canterbury,” Lenihan said.
“Our teams showcased incredible innovation and dedication to their project.”
The regional and national finals were the culmination of a year’s worth of work designing, getting local sponsorship, budgeting, manufacturing, testing and racing, done in school time, as well as at lunchtimes and after school.
Lenihan said the results were a reflection of all the hard work put in by the teams.
The annual EVolocity Challenge involves students building a vehicle powered by a standard 350W electric motor, controller and two 12V gel cells.
Innovation is encouraged as students strive to make their vehicle the fastest with the least drag, and able to cope with the demands of a tight street circuit.
Lenihan said a careful reading of the rules around what could be done with the kart’s limiters and their cut-off point might have given Mahurangi the edge.
“The teams showcased innovation and a ‘tweaking’ of the rules that no other team was able to replicate in this competition.”
First over the line was Braking Bad (Hannah Bremner, Matte Perrin, Kenzie Jackson, John Taylor, Jack Leaning and Jack Bremner), who won the high powered go-kart category, as well as the drag race, the street circuit, and two University of Auckland awards for innovation and engineering. Braking Bad driver
Jack Leaning also broke the track speed record by 13kph, getting up to 64kph.
Runners up were Chopped (Seb Pearce, Cameron Davey, George Miles, Thomas Vegar and Quinn Collins) in the high powered go-cart category.
As well, Coco Asiana (Otetika Baukie, Brody Ludolph, Volaki Meafou, Kaitati Robertson, Bwaroko Tebutokai and Dan Wnzlick) came 14th; and Lemon (Jacob Furniss, Joe Kuwano, Jack Peel, Lucas Daum, Benny Hertzer and Aran Niccolls) finished fourth in the low-powered category.
Race day consisted of drag racing, gymkhana/slalom, efficiency and endurance challenges, alongside ‘just for fun’ racing experiences. As well as the racing awards, special awards were given out for data innovation, engineering excellence, sustainability and show factors.
Lenihan thanked the Mahurangi businesses who had sponsorsed the teams.
“Without them we could not have achieved these outstanding results.”
