My day at Dunsfold Park (Top Gear test track)

Feek · 28-09-2008, 23:17

YMF is involved with his school team who compete in the Greenpower racing series. I use the word 'compete' loosely as they've only managed two races this year. Last season they had two students who were very interested and had the ability to take the lead and get things organised. This year they've both gone up to the next school and the team lacks cohesion.

Anyway, we trundled off to the track and one of the two cars was delayed arriving so as a result nothing happened until they arrived and then it was a mad panic to get the cars through scrutineering (this was a task in itself) and made ready. Our two cars were the last through and as a result we got no testing time on track. If we had, we would have discovered a big problem.

Come race time, the grid was arranged simply by the order in which the cars lined up. We were very lucky in that we were the second team to be told that they were lining up so we got second and third on the grid. Even though the grid positions don't actually mean anything because it's an endurance race and the final positions are just down to how many laps the cars do, it was nice to be at the front.

So the cars lined up, the flag dropped and they were off.

Disaster!

Both cars were painfully slow, one was so slow that it had been lapped by the time it reached the third corner. We finally managed to attract the drivers attention and got it into the pits after two laps and after some tinkering it was discovered that the speed controller wasn't working properly and hardly any drive was getting to the wheels. Half an hour of rewiring later and the car was ready to go back out with a simple push button throttle. Either off or on! The car went back out and managed to beat our other car timewise. This was good news. But before we could get the other car in to do the same trick we had another problem - Because of the harsh nature of the throttle, the car we'd fixed had jumped the chain off the wheel. We got it back in and re-chained but decided not to repair the remaining car's speed controller because of this chain leaping problem. In fact we had to rechain the car about five times so to have this happening with both cars would be rubbish.

In the end we had two cars going with consistent lap times, one was doing 2:26-2:28 and the slower was doing 3:15. Consistent but poor. However both cars completed the four hours race and didn't come last!

We didn't qualify for the finals at Goodwood in three weeks time and it's been decided now to take a break for a month and then look at stripping both cars completely and doing a full rebuild. The team also need to take a good look at themselves and get a leader, one of the kids who is prepared to effectively run things. Difficult when the oldest is only thirteen.

Even though it was a very long day, I'm localesed and sunburned, it was very enjoyable.

I didn't take too many pictures but I've uploaded what I did into a gallery. Our cars are numbers 52 and 53. I accept that they look rubbish and at the moment they are, but Phatman (52) did win a meeting a few years ago. I know it looks like a bathtub but it's not. Honest!

Gallery here.

Jello · 29-09-2008, 00:57

It looks fantastic. What sort of engines are in the cars?

Who builds them? Are the teams mainly from schools?

Feek · 29-09-2008, 09:18

The cars are all powered by the same spec electric motor that's specified by the rules for the series and yes, all entries are schools, the teams are made up of 12-15 year olds. There was one car I didn't get a photo of which looked absolutely stunning, it was all silver and nicely curved and looked like something that Flash Gordon would have driven!

Garp · 29-09-2008, 09:26

So the object of the exercise is to create as aerodynamic and lightweight a vehicle as possible? It's not 100% clear from the Greenpower site

Seems there is two classes of race, endurance and sprint.. so the car needs to be capable of being both fast, and efficient?

Feek · 29-09-2008, 13:33

We race in the endurance class not the sprint so I don't know how the sprint works but the endurance is simply to keep going for the full four hours with as little breaks as possible to get the maximum number of laps in. It's no good having a car that can do 45mph around the track but which is unreliable and breaks down after 2 hours needing an hours repair to get it back going. Which is what you said, I think!

So top speed isn't overly essential, it's reliability and speed of driver/battery changes which is important. They're also limited to the number of batteries they're allowed to use per race so power management is involved as well.

We did crap this weekend but it was enjoyable and a big learning curve. It was much more interesting than if we'd turned up and everything had gone swimmingly.

Haly · 29-09-2008, 14:44

Sounds like really interesting stuff

Must have been brilliant for the kids

Garp · 29-09-2008, 22:39

Sounds cool, would be interesting to be involved in such a project

Wish they'd done such a thing when I was at school

Jonny69 · 30-09-2008, 16:59

Sounds pretty cool. My kinda thing

28-09-2008, 23:17	#1
Feek ex SAS Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: JO01ou Posts: 10,062	My day at Dunsfold Park (Top Gear test track) YMF is involved with his school team who compete in the Greenpower racing series. I use the word 'compete' loosely as they've only managed two races this year. Last season they had two students who were very interested and had the ability to take the lead and get things organised. This year they've both gone up to the next school and the team lacks cohesion. Anyway, we trundled off to the track and one of the two cars was delayed arriving so as a result nothing happened until they arrived and then it was a mad panic to get the cars through scrutineering (this was a task in itself) and made ready. Our two cars were the last through and as a result we got no testing time on track. If we had, we would have discovered a big problem. Come race time, the grid was arranged simply by the order in which the cars lined up. We were very lucky in that we were the second team to be told that they were lining up so we got second and third on the grid. Even though the grid positions don't actually mean anything because it's an endurance race and the final positions are just down to how many laps the cars do, it was nice to be at the front. So the cars lined up, the flag dropped and they were off. Disaster! Both cars were painfully slow, one was so slow that it had been lapped by the time it reached the third corner. We finally managed to attract the drivers attention and got it into the pits after two laps and after some tinkering it was discovered that the speed controller wasn't working properly and hardly any drive was getting to the wheels. Half an hour of rewiring later and the car was ready to go back out with a simple push button throttle. Either off or on! The car went back out and managed to beat our other car timewise. This was good news. But before we could get the other car in to do the same trick we had another problem - Because of the harsh nature of the throttle, the car we'd fixed had jumped the chain off the wheel. We got it back in and re-chained but decided not to repair the remaining car's speed controller because of this chain leaping problem. In fact we had to rechain the car about five times so to have this happening with both cars would be rubbish. In the end we had two cars going with consistent lap times, one was doing 2:26-2:28 and the slower was doing 3:15. Consistent but poor. However both cars completed the four hours race and didn't come last! We didn't qualify for the finals at Goodwood in three weeks time and it's been decided now to take a break for a month and then look at stripping both cars completely and doing a full rebuild. The team also need to take a good look at themselves and get a leader, one of the kids who is prepared to effectively run things. Difficult when the oldest is only thirteen. Even though it was a very long day, I'm localesed and sunburned, it was very enjoyable. I didn't take too many pictures but I've uploaded what I did into a gallery. Our cars are numbers 52 and 53. I accept that they look rubbish and at the moment they are, but Phatman (52) did win a meeting a few years ago. I know it looks like a bathtub but it's not. Honest! Gallery here. __________________

29-09-2008, 09:18	#3
Feek ex SAS Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: JO01ou Posts: 10,062	The cars are all powered by the same spec electric motor that's specified by the rules for the series and yes, all entries are schools, the teams are made up of 12-15 year olds. There was one car I didn't get a photo of which looked absolutely stunning, it was all silver and nicely curved and looked like something that Flash Gordon would have driven! __________________

29-09-2008, 09:26	#4
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	So the object of the exercise is to create as aerodynamic and lightweight a vehicle as possible? It's not 100% clear from the Greenpower site Seems there is two classes of race, endurance and sprint.. so the car needs to be capable of being both fast, and efficient? __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

29-09-2008, 13:33	#5
Feek ex SAS Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: JO01ou Posts: 10,062	We race in the endurance class not the sprint so I don't know how the sprint works but the endurance is simply to keep going for the full four hours with as little breaks as possible to get the maximum number of laps in. It's no good having a car that can do 45mph around the track but which is unreliable and breaks down after 2 hours needing an hours repair to get it back going. Which is what you said, I think! So top speed isn't overly essential, it's reliability and speed of driver/battery changes which is important. They're also limited to the number of batteries they're allowed to use per race so power management is involved as well. We did crap this weekend but it was enjoyable and a big learning curve. It was much more interesting than if we'd turned up and everything had gone swimmingly. __________________

29-09-2008, 14:44	#6
Haly Do you want to hide in my box? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 14,941	Sounds like really interesting stuff Must have been brilliant for the kids __________________ Halycopter

29-09-2008, 00:57	#2
Jello Nice weak cup of Earl Grey Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 33	It looks fantastic. What sort of engines are in the cars? Who builds them? Are the teams mainly from schools?

29-09-2008, 22:39	#7
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	Sounds cool, would be interesting to be involved in such a project Wish they'd done such a thing when I was at school __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

30-09-2008, 16:59	#8
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	Sounds pretty cool. My kinda thing __________________