Rotary RacerRotary RacerRenovatioRenovatio

GreenpowerGreenpowerNational Champions National Champions

20092009

What isWhat isGreenpower ?Greenpower ?

Greenpower is a young people engineering project, incorporating engineering, team building skills and motor sport dynamics

Greenpower involves Design, Manufacture and Racing of electrically powered cars

Greenpower brings school pupils and parents together

Greenpower races are split into leagues:

- Goblins (primary school years 5 & 6)

- Formula 24 (secondary school years 7 – 11)

- Formula 24+ (6th form years 12 & 13)

The Formula 24 rules define a particular electric motor

and a set of 4 car batteries as the power source.

F24 races run for 4 hours with 5 pit stops for driver

and battery changes

Around 300 schools compete across the UK

How doesHow doesGreenpower Work Greenpower Work

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Team photograph after victory at

the western heat at Castle Combe

Rotary Racer 7Rotary Racer 7 Rotary Racer 7 was the first of our cars to have a nose cone, which was made out of impact resistant foam

It was also the first car to incorporate our car computer/motor speed controller, which helped control how many amps the car was using

It is also our only car to date that has had a model tested in a real wind tunnel!

The team built the new car RR7, ready for the first race at the Corporate Challenge event. Here it came ninth.

At the next race, the Castle Combe heat, the team achieved 1st place

At the Dunsfold Park heat, the team achieved 1st place – again!

At the Goodwood National Final, Rotary Racer finished 2nd place out of 75 entrants

Rotary RacerRotary Racer2008 Season2008 Season

Aerodynamics were crucial. We used a virtual wind tunnel to develop our ideasWe used a chassis of aluminium tubing and plastic bungs for the framework because this structure is both light and strongWe used steel bolts to hold the structure togetherThe steering, motor support, and rear sub-frame is made from steel because it is very strongThe roll-bar is also made from steel tubing

DesignDesign

The bodywork is made mostly out of insulation foam as it is cheap, and easy to shape.The bonnet and bottom is made from thin plywood.The roll bar faring is made from flexible foam that is easy to shape and glues well.There is a foam nose cone that can also act as a shock absorber.The seating for the driver is a canvas hammock suspended between two tubes.There Is foam under the seat in-case the driver hits the floor The team made most of the components.

Design continuedDesign continued

DesignDesignThe pupils and parents designed, built and tested most of the car's componentsCAD drawings were used

Racing action from the 2009

National Final at Goodwood

Motor Circuit

Rotary Racer 8Rotary Racer 8 This car also had a foam nose cone… as well as a foam outer shell!

The aerodynamic testing for this car was done on a computer, using virtual models of the car in a virtual wind tunnel

This car also used the on-board car computer/motor speed controller, as well as a car horn we could program to play different tunes

Telemetry

At the Corporate Challenge race at Goodwood, the team came 4th with RR7

After the Corporate Challenge, the team finished the new car RR8, and renamed the car “Rotary Racer Renevatio”, Renovatio being Latin for Rebirth

In the Goodwood heat (the first outing for RR8) the team finished 2nd to R-Pods SSC.

At both the Castle Combe and Dunsfold heats, Rotary Racer achieved 1st position finishes.

At the National Final at Goodwood, the team battled for the lead throughout. At the end we took the chequered flag as race winners and were crowned 2009 UK National formula 24 champions!

Rotary RacerRotary Racer2009 Season2009 Season

FactsFacts Building costs £400 (£500 of components from previous car) Competing costs about £340 per year (Tyres, Batteries etc) Peak speed about 64 Km/hour (40 MPH) Average speed about 52 Km/hour (33 MPH)Equivalent Petrol Consumption Castle Combe (24.5 Amps, 116 Miles) = 1994 MPG Dunsfold (17.4 Amps, 100 Miles) = 2421 MPG Goodwood Final (23.7 Amps, 120 Miles) = 2132 MPGElectronics Computer calculates power level 10 times per second Motor switched on/off 20,000 times per second

Making the car more efficient to run on smaller batteries

Improved aerodynamics

Reducing rolling resistance

Improved team presentation

Make the car safer

The FutureThe Future

GPS timing system

Driver intercom system

Replace retired batteries and motor

Better car building facilities

Future continuedFuture continued

www.greenpower.beamweb.co.uk

Thank you for listeningThank you for listeningMany thanks to all of our sponsors and supporters including: Rotary Club, Chipping Sodbury Towns Land Trust, Chipping Sodbury Shipp Engineering Ltd CTEK Chargers Parsons Brinckerhoff BLD Group Avonside Insulation Supplies Kemble Airfield Royal Air Force Beam Ltd

Any Questions ?