Author: The Greenpower Team
My name is Nathaniel Olson, I am 19 years old, and currently studying Motorsport Engineering at Coventry University.
In 2011 I got involved in our school’s Greenpower club, when we started our first car built from scratch. In the second year we managed to get to the National Final but due to technical issues, we finished 65th. We learnt a lot from that year and I decided to design and build our next chassis as my GCSE final project, using all of the experience we gained from the first car.
The debut of Saracens Racer went very well at Newquay, qualifying for the National Final in its very first heat, despite punctures, under-gearing and using the wrong batteries. Later in the year we were running high as 9th in the Final before running into batteries issues. This again was a big learning experience for me, especially seeing competitor’s cars from all over the country. The following year, I applied this knowledge to designing and building my first whole car as part of my BTEC Engineering final project at Truro College. The overall concept was carried over from the previous car, but every aspect was developed and refined to reduce weight, size and aerodynamic drag.
Stealth made its debut at Merryfield was very encouraging, coming 6th in F24+, but after only 2 races I decided to modify it in order to improve its performance. Continuous development and improvement is one of most important aspects of Greenpower and one that I find most exciting. At the end of the last season I decided to start a new chassis and aerodynamic design for Stealth II.
Greenpower is a largely why I chose a career in engineering and I continue to find it an inspiring and enjoyable challenge.
