On Monday, the first year Mechanical Engineering students raced hovercrafts they had designed and made as part of their Design & Manufacture course.
The project requires students to find the best materials and proportions for building a new vehicle, based on the fans and battery pack from a standard mini-hovercraft kit.
The budding engineers worked in groups of four, in two intense three-hour sessions, to build and develop their hovercrafts, and to get them ready for the race.
Everyday items were re-used by students as materials for their designs and included cardboard cereal boxes, aluminium roasting trays, garbage bags, popsicle sticks and polystyrene lunch boxes.
On the day of the final event, teams raced their hovercrafts in knockout rounds on a 15 metres long ,1 metre wide track set up in the City and Guilds level 2 concourse.
The winning team ran a vehicle made of fibre board, cardboard and a plastic bag, and received small cash prizes for their achievement, alongside the next two ranked groups.
Emma, James, Andrew and Alexandra, the race's winning team
Hovercrafts were also timed for speed during the race, and their creators received marks according to the craft’s performance. The fastest hovercraft completed the race in 5.25 seconds.
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Reporter
Nadia Barbu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
