H2G

Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP)

For the last two terms, 12 members of our Like Minds class (two teams) have been involved in the Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) program. The H2GP program challenges budding innovators and engineers to design, build and race their own hydrogen-powered cars. Throughout the program, our two teams have developed the creativity, ingenuity and real-world problem-solving skills needed to tackle tomorrow's energy challenges. The project wasn’t only about science and engineering, but was also about team-building, communication and resilience (and a lot of fun!) 

The project culminated in a 4 hour marathon race where our students had to compete against teams from all over Victoria and NSW to see how many laps their cars could complete, while conserving the limited number of hydrogen cells that each team had. This meant rationing their speed, avoiding collisions, managing technical issues, and keeping an eye on warning lights. The winner would move on to the Australian H2GP, where they would vie for a place in the World H2GP in California.

Hey everyone, it's Emily and April here. We went to the H2GP on Tuesday have written this piece to talk about it. 

To start the excursion we stayed the night at school on Monday to account for our

an early morning on Tuesday. We were woken up at the crack of dawn (4:30am) to be on the bus at 5:30, heading off to Altona Toyota Headquarters in Melbourne along with Mirboo North. 

After a long drive, we finally arrived and received lanyards and shirts in the pit. We had a couple hours to set up and make sure our car was ready for the future race. After a long waiting period we were called into Present to a panel to tell them about ourselves and our car (this was judged). 

At 11:30 we put our cars on the track and the race began. Our team called the Zoomies and the Speeders were off to a great start which did not last long. Unfortunately the Zoomies car started malfunctioning, the wheels started coming off and the battery went flat because it was not fully charged (Not cool Zoomies). The Speeders car also started malfunctioning including leaks in one of the tubes and a blockage preventing the hydrogen from getting to the engine. An hour later we came to the end of our race, luckily we had one car on the track which was the Speeders (Go Speeders!) and crossed the finish line. We ended up coming Drum Roll please…… 2nd and 3rd last!!! Not last at least. 

We believe our teams worked beautifully throughout the whole race, pushing past everything that came our way as best as possible. We are proud of all the people who did the work for many months. We would like to thank Mr. Wilson, Mrs. Witton and Mr. Kellow for helping us all throughout this experience. 

Well Done to:

Speeders-Ryan W, Ryan E, Cassie G, Lauren S, Emily D, Detroit S. 

Zoomies- Jack R, Hudson J, Aaron M, Lily L, Violet J, April J.