Young engineers get their eyes opened!

Students from George Stephenson High School are currently building 24volt powered cars to race at Croft in September. This is part of a national competition entitled
‘Greenpower – Electric Car Races for Schools’

A car was built at the school & raced in 2007, achieving 86 miles & the award for ‘Best Presented Team’. It was decided to modify the old car, & build a new one for the 2007 race, this time the focus would be on light weight materials & careful chassis design. Unfortunately the school does not have the specialist processes & expertise to produce the lightweight chassis, which would become the foundation of a successful car.

Enter Fife Engineering with an offer of help, “just tell us what you need” was the encouraging statement the students heard, as they set about designing the new chassis. After much head scratching & many discarded drawings, the students produced a model of the new chassis in timber.
“Can you build us that in aluminium please”, the students asked.

This was a different challenge to what the experts at Fife were used to, but with an eagerness to help it was agreed that an aluminium chassis would be produced at the factory in Swalwell, ready for the students to attach the electrics & running gear, etc.

Work carried on at the school, with students giving up Saturday mornings to improve the 2007 car & bring it up to the new regulations required by Greenpower.
Then the school received a phone call in June, “your chassis is finished, would you like a look around the factory when you collect it”?
This was fantastic news for the students, by this time they were heavily involved in the engineering & modifications to the old car, but the offer of a look around an engineering works raised the enthusiasm levels even further.

On June 28th, Year 9 students Michael Race, Jonathon Hodson, & Jonathon Clarke, along with project leaders from the school, were met at the factory reception by Tessa Still, Co Director of Fife Engineering.
Tessa explained how the company was founded by her father, showing photographs of the machines he developed himself, when no such machines were available. From these small but innovative beginnings, the company has grown to what it is today. Operated by Tessa & her brother Rob Hogarth, along with a dedicated workforce, this is a very specialised engineering company that can adapt itself to almost anything a customer requires. Often this starts with an idea the customer has, but doesn’t know how it can be achieved.

The tour started with an introduction to the engineers who had built the chassis. The students, still with their eyes wide open in amazement after seeing their model chassis converted into such a dazzling aluminium structure, were able to chat at length about how long it had taken to make & what was the most difficult part of the construction etc.
The students could hardly take their eyes off the new chassis, but the tour was to continue with a thorough look at machines & engineering operations being carried out by the Fife workforce.
At each stage Tessa was able to advise the students of the processes under way on the various machines. This proved to be fascinating stuff, the students having being used to working on Boxford lathes at school measuring little over a metre long. These things were huge, some almost 2 car lengths!

One of the most rewarding points of the tour was the opportunity to chat to the various employees. From young apprentice engineers, to others who’d been with the company for over 30 years in some cases. The enthusiasm & dedication of the workforce was something that the students were impressed by, the very positive attitude shown by everyone they’d met was an education in itself.

After an amazing insight into Fife’s computer aided design facility, the tour finished off with some photographs & loading of the completed chassis into the school bus. The model was also taken back to school to demonstrate to other students what can be achieved, starting with a few sketches & ending up with a well engineered finished product.

The school would like to thank Fife Engineering for producing the chassis for the 2007 races, hopefully picking up a trophy or two.
Particular thanks to Tessa Still for giving up an afternoon & allowing the students to get a real taste of engineering, a truly memorable experience.

Graham Kellett
Greenpower Project Leader
George Stephenson High School