Technology News

2024 Formula High School Track Day Report

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, the Senior MEM20422 Certificate II Engineering Pathways students had prepared themselves and the race car for the highly anticipated Formula High School 6-hour endurance event that took place last Friday, October 4th, at Lakeside Park, Kurwongbah.

After a very successful day of scrutineering and testing on Thursday, our hopes for a competitive day were high. New rules were imposed this year to ensure all teams ran at the same pace for consistency, parity, and safety. If the track limit of 1 minute 52 seconds was exceeded (faster lap), a ten-minute “sin bin” penalty in the pits would be applied for each offense. If this occurred three times, the car and team would be disqualified. The cars are capable of much greater speeds than this, so it was essential to dial them down to remain within set track limits. There are, of course, many other infringements that can attract penalties in the interest of safety, so “common sense” prevails on a track where there are many mixed abilities.

With both tension and anticipation building on the day, last-minute preparations were underway to ensure a successful event. An hour before the cars were released onto the track, we discovered our battery was flat. This was not the best start to the day but one that was easily overcome. The battery was quickly put on charge, and to ensure this wasn’t a problem going forward, I raced to the nearest Battery World to purchase a replacement battery in case the existing one was faulty. With minutes to go, the car was in the lineup for track entry, and we exchanged the battery to have it fire up and be ready to go with Jordan Collison at the wheel.

We started the day strong, leading the lap count by lap 13. However, a chain issue caused us to fall behind, requiring a tow back to the pits. This setback occurred three times due to a poorly designed part that was beyond our control and difficult to fix with the limited workshop capabilities at the track. Despite these challenges, the boys rallied together, supporting each other and fixing the issue to get back on track. The issue plagued us another two times during the day, but we eventually solved the problem and pushed forward.

Our team completed 83 laps, securing 12th place out of 27 cars. The highest lap count of the day was 110. Impressively, we incurred no penalties, and our team of young men performed admirably throughout the event. The Year 12 students each had two drives, while the Year 11 students completed their 5 laps during the middle rotations, gaining essential experience for next year.

A big congratulations to our Senior Engineering class who enjoyed the day immensely: Jordan Collison, Ben Finn, Darcy Hotston, Jack Lowe, Lachy McKellar, Dan Rae, Spencer Rainbird, Gus Watson, Hugo Baker, Joachim Horgan, Ethan James, Robert-Roy Peake, and Andreas Specht.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our many sponsors for helping make this all possible: JBE Group, Noone, Mitchelton Mowers, Bridgeman Stainless Solutions, ProCloud, Harts Paints, Thermal Edge Coating, and Workshop 28. Your contributions have been invaluable in getting us to this point.

A special thank you goes to Henry Krutil (father of Roman in 6B) for being with us to offer his expertise throughout the day. His advice and experience proved to be essential to the success of the day. If it wasn’t for his quick thinking and spare clamp, we would not have been able to continue, and our day would have been over. To Rob McGrath (father of Darcy in 5R and JBE Gold Sponsor) for providing much-appreciated financial backing and for coming out on the day to meet the boys and provide support.

From Marist College Ashgrove, we thank the College Leadership Team for supporting the program, Mr Adrian Gray for his expertise in the MEM20422 Certificate II in Engineering Pathways, Mr Brian Dougherty for his help on the day, and Mr Blair Whitlock for transportation.

Overall, it was a very successful day, showcasing terrific teamwork and camaraderie.