Author: The Greenpower Team
133 teams from UK, Poland, Singapore, Spain and China vied for glory at British track
Young people from over 100 education institutes and youth organisations descended on the world-famous Silverstone Circuit in the UK last Thursday (17 October) for the Greenpower International Final, a unique celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for young people across the UK – and beyond!
Teams braved the typically unpredictable Silverstone weather conditions to race around a shortened version of the F1 circuit in a bid to be crowned Greenpower Champions 2019. After an exciting 90-minute final race, the winners of the F24 class were the RLR3 team from Richard Lander School in Truro. Team Bird GP, with FireBird, emerged triumphant in the advanced F24+ category after an intense hour-long race. Megazord R2, from Bristol Grammar School, were also victorious in the Kit Car Championships and celebrated their 10th anniversary this year.
The Silverstone Final was the culmination of a busy year of Greenpower racing with youngsters aged between 11 and 25 required to qualify by competing around the UK, including at prestigious venues such as Goodwood and the Top Gear track at Dunsfold. Greenpower’s international reach saw participants from as far afield as Poland, Singapore, China and Spain.
Awards available for the teams included the best presented team won by Hummingbird from Plymouth High School for Girls, the best mascot won by The Bourne Academy and the brand-new SQN social media award which was given to The Inver Racers.
Greenpower used the occasion of its International Final to bring together its partners with showcases from Siemens, Ford and the IET in a special area where Greenpower cars past and present were also on show. New partners EDF Energy and SQN were also actively involved in the event with interactive displays, flag waving and awards judging.
Beatrice Bigois, Managing Director of Customers, EDF Energy
"Science and engineering skills will remain critically important in reaching net zero emissions and we are committed to encouraging greater uptake of these subjects at university and beyond. We know that providing young people with hands-on STEM experiences is one of the best ways to do this, so we are extremely proud to offer our support to initiatives like Greenpower.”
A special gold-liveried car, created to commemorate the 1,000th Greenpower chassis, was also on display and was given a few laps of Silverstone by Greenpower Education Trust CEO, Paul van Veggel.
Paul said: “It was an honour to have the opportunity to drive the gold chassis around Silverstone on what was a truly phenomenal International Final. There was a palpable buzz up and down the paddock throughout the day as hundreds of young people prepared for a fanfare finish to our 20th anniversary season. It was a real celebration of the Greenpower community and a day to remember. From our partners, who all played an important role on the day, to the teachers, youth workers and parents who have given such support to our initiative throughout the year, and to the Greenpower staff whose dedication and passion created such a fantastic event, it was a massive team effort. We now look towards 2020 where we will be putting renewed focus on our Goblins (9-11-year olds), as well as our F24 and F24+ competitions, with the continued objective of encouraging young people into STEM through the excitement of motorsport.”
