What a great day, perfect weather, great racing throughout the day, with positions at the sharp end of F24 changing right up to the last 10yards!!! Brilliantly done iwoosh and rotary racer, both streets ahead of the rest.
We got 3rd in F24+ and 5th in F24 (that was zebedee, brian was held back by having no teeth on the motor sprocket!!!) which was all we could hope for.
I must say, although the new batteries don't really suit our cars, they have produced some excellent races!
120miles RR - fantastic! Interesting that when the 2011 rules came out Terry & I disagreed about how much the new batteries would slow us down - he said ~87% & I said ~75%. Turns out we were both right,- for our own cars.....

Yes, what a superb day, made up for the weather early on in the season. With the burden of the '1' we thought the RR write up in the program would be the final straw and the Gremlins would have got us, but they must have been on holiday :) Our ancient pit-side Laptop's disk did give up the ghost about 3 hours in, so Dan was left without info and control, for a bit, but the spare laptop went in without too much of a hitch. The new batteries certainly have suited RR (more balanced weight ?), but I think the tail designed by the lads using the VWT and built by the newer team members has been our main advantage this year. The lads and lasses certainly have worked and drove exceptionally well this year as a team. Thanks Bob and yes, our calcs were about right ! (although RR has bettered my expectations and was on song for the final)
Really fast iWoosh and superb F24+ championship win for Alex and Matt in R-Pods, fitting indeed.
Good stable second place for The Black Bullet. Shame for By-Pod in the last 100 metres !, but well done to Fireblade for sneaking that one in !

Great event as ever with even better standard of cars and teams and all the regalia of the final.
Thanks again to the Greenpower team and volunteers for proving this excellent learning and fun engineering experience for all the youngsters (and us oldies as well :) )

Just like to reiterate the above comments and thanks for another well run event. Our first set of batteries had us circulating in a respectable 5m30s but our second set let us down badly. When the car finally pitted, there was nearly 2 volts difference between the pair! One had run down to 10.5 v with the other still on about 12.5v! How can this be? Had us lapping at 8 mins. I believe Longford also suffered similar problems with two sets of their batteries and they were pretty fed up .

Is there a frailty with these new batteries? All our six started off at 13.54V and have been looked after as per the manufacturers recommendations. Earlier in the season we had a brand new unused battery fail when there was a momentary short circuit on the 12v ancillary circuit. We then couldn't get the car to go and on checking the batteries we found one battery showed 0 volts whilst the other was unaffected. Tried to charge it again but it won't take any charge. I won't be using the dodgy battery again as it compromised our race (plus we broke a chain which did not help!) so that is two batteries gone in the first season.

Apart from Longford which I know about, are any other teams experiencing similar battery issues? I'm happy to have the batteries checked out in case there is a manufacturing issue that needs to be resolved.

Chris

Well, I had a fantastic day. My first visit to Goodwood where I haven't had cars racing and I must say, I really enjoyed my stint as a Marshall and car park attendant. Many thanks for everyone's cooperation in the car parks, except for the woman with the red Xsara who drove through the tunnel when asked to use the main car-park and then didn't move the car when asked. Why were you a special case? There were one or two others but that was the one that stuck in mind, just bloody rude.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the spirit and banter that pevailed through pits 19 to 25 and again, thankyou for your cooperation in keeping the pit lane and apron clear and running smoothly. I would definitely do that job again if we don't qualify in future finals. Yes team Fireblade, your pit-stops are pretty slick and got you the podium place. You seemed to have the only hatch activated battery connection system which worked properly all race..... might pinch that idea.

Marvellous to see the two "Pods" parading together, a most fitting tribute.

The camp-site was nice and lively on saturday nightwith the Zen-car disco roadshow and plenty of good live music but chaps, 11:30pm is a bit late for us old folks without our horlicks.

@Hannah, told you RR would win dispite the No1. Shoulda made a wager :-)

So, along with over 600 miles of motorcycling, a pretty good weekend.

Oh... and thanks for the socks!

Oh, I forgot to mention......we were reunited with a battery trolly (one of those expensive fold up type) that we 'misplaced' at a previous event when we found it in the battery quarantine at this event. Oh joy, thought Greenpower must have found it and put it there for us to find. It's got 'Foremarke' written all over it! We took it back to our garage No.81 and parked it at the front, adding two new red bungee cords to secure the batteries. Sometime later someone nicked it again when the garage was left unattended. Not supposed to happen at a Greenpower event. Please can we have it back?

CC

Superb day, thanks to all - as above....
I Woosh, where are you hidding the gas turbine? - Awesome, RR top notch as well, almost as fast but nearly twice the time on a set of cells!
We had a poor start, down to 23rd at one stage but fought back to 9th and got over 100 miles for first time so that was pleasing, not too bad for a recycled seagull with fixed gear and on/off switch!
Well done KHALE that was good run, you got your own back for Combe and Ben said cheers for the 'wave' at the end.
Well done to the mighty Zord 13th superb for a tweaked kit and the Tigers top ten first time out, fine effort.
The distances being done on the new bats are impressive, there were lots of fine performaces.
Unlucky Formarke, had no issues with our bats we dont see 13.5 though, 13.1 more like 24 Hrs post charge, they are normally within 0.1v post use. I spoke to battery rep at Silverstone he seemed helpful, perhaps you could get Jer to put you in touch?

Nice tribute to Alex and the Pods at the end...

Downsides...? The timing info/displays were far from perfect and the PA was barely audible.... but hey...

See you all next year, Corporate C here we come.... :-/

The team and us adults really enjoyed the whole weekend. Compliments to the chef & crew the night before and to all the GP staff and volunteers on the day. Such a well run event, with the race, weather (unlike earlier in the year) Goodwood paddock & ambience combining for a memorable day. It was nice to meet some new friendly faces and to say hello to those few we have met before. And of course lots of ideas for the team members to chew over before the Corporate Challenge!

The racing was fascinating from start to finish - great distances being recorded by many with 120miles for RR being an incredible achievement. Congratulations to all the top teams with special mention to Pete and his MPH team along with Bob and the Aberteifi Tigers both exceeding 100 miles. Megazord did us proud with our relatively modest 96 miles and we feel this is way further than we expected to be able to develop the Kit car this season. Two new vehicles are in the pipe line with 'Gigazord' being the nearest to completion and 'Sub-Zero' sitting as a chassis in the work shop - it promises to be a busy winter for us!

We picked up someones lap timer from the bank area to the left of the track entry - let me know if its yours.

Phill

Terry - the Gremlins weren't absent they were throwing stones at Bernard and living inside microswitchs in Vindaloo. Bernard was such a freak accident we still almost can't believe it. The damage to the caliper is obvious and unequivocal but what are the chances of a stone/ debris flicking up and jamming a caliper? The driver was completely unhurt and Bernard's scars are only skin deep (thank god after 3 years of planning/ building!). Vindaloo suffered all afternoon with an untraceable fault which turned out to be an intermittent fault in the throttle microswitch. A 90p component stuffed a years hard work. All that said we still had a great 2 days (just got back) and the team are already planning improvements for next year. If anyone knows where you can buy Gremlin repellant spray I would be very interested. Thanks go again to all the GP team for a superbly organised event and to the marshalls/ medics for looking after Ryan.

on the battery note, we had one pair of batteries which only lasted 3 laps before we were recovered. miraculously the other to pairs lasted the rest of the race without too much trouble. weird really, theyd been on charge all week

We also had a dodgy battery at Aintree. They were obviously fading early and when checked one was 12.8v and the other 7.5v and is now strictly practice only.

Re comments on batteries.......the suppliers recommend that the batteries be charged up but then disconnected and not left on a trickle. Then the day before you want to use them, put them back on charge. That's what we do.

Odd thing about my previous comment earlier where there was a 2 volt difference taken on battery readings when taken from the car, now they are back at school, they have both 'recovered' to 12.2 volts. I do appreciate that this gives no indication as to what capacity they hold. I'll give them some tests over the winter before I bin the suspect one. I still think there is potentially something suspect with these batteries (we have 26 of them!) from some of the feedback arriving on this blog. Rush manufacturing due to the huge demand?? I'm hoping not.

CC

For us? BEST DAY EVER.

I have been racing in some capacity in Greenpower since 2002. Laura then joined me at Tendring Technology College in 2003 and after 5 fantastic seasons getting a taste for engineering we decided In 2007 to start our own team, and since then, team members have come and gone but we've ended up with a really strong few to help us out at events with Mel, James and this year we had Sam and Hayleigh from EMF Racing (watch out for them next year)

Our success rate has never been amazing, so to close our tenth season with a win was superb. So thank you to everyone that has been a part of our project, you wouldn't believe how much we appreciate it.

As for the Gas turbine.. we're working on it ;)

Luke

Just got home a few minutes ago after driving through some horrendous wind and torrential rain followed by sleet showers, I hope all the other Scottish teams have got through safely. Quite a change from yesterday's weather.

Fantastic result for iWhoosh in F24+, Mjolnir succumbed to electronics gremlins and missed the first 13 minutes which was a pity as it showed a fair pace through the rest of the race.

F24 went very well, 7th for Coyote (just beating Aberteifi Tigers in the battle of the Celts) which was fantastic considering half the team only saw the car for the first time at practice! A huge thank you to Ullapool for helping us out with extra team members, without whom we wouldn't have been able to take part.

We had a good day on Sunday, the girls really enjoyed themselves. Several parents came along to the final too which was really good to see - the first time we have had any (non-financial) parental help ever.

We really struggled with traffic early on, it ate our first set of batteries very fast. I think we need a "boost" button for next year (unless the cruise control arrives by then) as we really needed to escape those around us. Pit stops were sloooow - most of which can be overcome with education and practice but we will need to relocate the batteries I think. I picked what I consider to be the wrong gear ratio, we had beans left at the end in battery sets 2 and 3.

19th will have to do, but we'll be back next year - this time well drilled and with proper bodywork!

"19th will have to do": in your first year ... !!

Thanks for all the positive comments about the event. We do have quite a bit of lost property. Please claim it if it's yours!

Crash helmet branded Driver Cosmos
Battery trolley branded Foremarke Hall (left by their number in battery quarantine!)
Blue plastic Stanley type knife
Large adjustable spanner
Large pair of Molegrips
Block of blue high density foam
Faux leather black seat squab
Leigh Technology Academy banner
Garmin Sat Nav unit
Watch branded ‘fossil’
One red and black glove
Pit board branded Foremarke Hall
Pit board branded with BP logo
Black plastic battery trolley with four wheels
Navy V neck M&S jumper
Beige camping chair cover
XXL Polartec Sprayway fleece
Two batteries for car number 37

Admin.

@ admin, if the large block o blue foam was found in battery quarantine, ie belongs to either car number 46 or 47

hth

Thanks to all concerned for a fantastic weekend. Our youngsters were amazed and delighted with their "Spirit" award. It was great to catch up with some of the the other teams verbally, if not so much on the track this year! Found this on Youtube featuring Emma and a certain Tom Bollan from Maltings (ex Plume!). I think it captures the flavour of Sunday quite nicely:



Cheers, Mike.

we had our worst day's racing ever. :(

Battery connection in F24+ cost us points position. - still improved on last years 6th in the championship but the start of the season promised so much...

First outing in F24 ended in 42nd and 45th. One car suffering from over excited battery change pulling the connector clean off the wires, the other car having a puncture 30 mins from the end. We just sat and watched the positions tumble. Character building for the kids...

The new team are already starting on the new car for 2012- and it may not actually have any connection to a roofbox :) See you all in May, back at Silverstone?

stuart

Aaaargh! I'll swing for those kids yet! Abject apologies to all following Jeremy's list! Seems like our battery trolley has resurfaced again and not been nicked.........I'm sincerely pleased at that and my faith has been restored. Still don't know why it ended back there as there was already another one there for the purpose of battery changes. I guess it was the general excitement of the day and kids are kids although they told me it had gone walkabout. What to do?

CC

53rd
Worst perfomance ever,but let down by a failure in our set 'a' batteries- probably an internal short.

no its not the worst performance ever... we have had races where we were recovered for the same problem every 3 laps

Hello,

Some photos from the final: http://www.flickr.com/photos/querth/sets/72157627815158701/

Matt

Excellent pics.

mattt....please contact me re photos you did for us previously. Have sent you emails but no response so wondering if you have a new contact? ccanavan@foremarke.co.uk.

Would also like some of these new ones!

Chris

Terry_@_Chathamensis' Worst Final position ever, then if you need to be specific.

@cookie its still not the worst final position ever

Thanks SKS.

Shameless plug - prints of all the Flickr photos are available to purchase at
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/querth/collection?album_id=944584339


(Chris - you have mail on your NTL account - message to your foremarke address bounced)

Hi, just want to say a great big thank you to all involved in making the Final weekend so fantastic! We got there with a wild card and had a great time, we even managed to move up the table a few places more than we expected!! Sadly the future of our team is in question due to staffing/funding etc so it was an amazing thing for the 'cowgirls' to be a part of. We will keep fighting on to keep going as I personally think (and I know that I am not alone!!), that Greenpower is a remarkable thing for students to be a part of and they gain so much more than just the engineering side of things, I have never yet met a child involved in this who doesn't speak about it with enthusiasm and total animation! Well done Greenpower and long may you continue. Oh and Mattt, great photos!! Thanks

ive still got 'west cliff high school had a cow...' stuck in my head! and did i do the wrong thing by playing cee lo green to them in batt quarentine?

Loved the banter between the Cow Girls and Tomato Salad .You did a brilliant job fueling their enthusiasm Mother Cow. You gave them the confidence to make the most of the day. Keep it up, don't let the team fold :-)

Ha ha, think they are working on 'cow related' lyrics to Cee Lo Green as we speak!!!! I too loved the sing off. Thanks for saying that I fuelled their enthusiasm, but to be honest I get such a kick out of all of them having fun that it doesn't take much to get excited. I will do all I can to keep us going...watch this space.

We had a disappointing final. Motor controller packed up during practice (It seems the batts were over voltage). Had to rewire the car to run off the old reliable relay, missed the first 10 minutes of the F24+ race. Then 2 punctures in the F24 race. We had some luck though we gained a pair of Motorola radio handsets, unfortunately the charger is missing. So if our benefactor would care to forward said charger or would hey prefer to have their handsets back?

Thanks to the Greenpower team for a fantastic weekend. A fitting finale to the 2011 season.

Chris

I calculated our motor speed with freshly charged batteries and was astounded at 2400 RPM, then I measured the total battery voltage it was around 32 (16v each) so there is a risk of damaging controller in the first few mins.
Ashley

Oh Cow girls, lucky we didn't get King Prawn in the final as there was talk of prawn suits.

Nigelpcat - how did you get the batteries up to 16v?

Ha ha, nigelpcat, that would of been great fun!! Prawns walking the track of the famous Goodwood!! What next! Well there's always next year, I would love to see that.
Dawn

Re the 16V It was immeadiately after charging them. We use a 24 V charger bought from SEC and charge two batteries at a time. Stop charging when light goes green. Checked voltage with a digital meter, I'm positive it was 16 v.
Ashley

Also found at the National Final:

1 x Pair iHome Speakers
1 x Crash Helmet Radio Kit

Admin.

Ashley, I think there is a problem with your charging or meter if you see 16 volts after charging. Are you sure the batteries are connected in series ? The maximum we see is 14.4 Volts which is the CTEK chargers limit and really they should not go above 14.1 Volts ...

I will charge them again and do another measurement. Meter is not the best so maybe I will take my old AVO in to School. They were definitely in series. But I do agree we should only see 14.4 volts I am now wondering if we really did have them in series or my measurement was wrong, however voltmeter has a large digital display, I may be getting on a bit but even I can differentiate a 4 from a 6 ! I am in on Thursday providing I remember .......

OK Heres how to get 17 volts from your battery...... buy your multimeter from Rapid's cheap range ! One meter says 18.09 Volts the other 13.57 so I'm inclined to believe the lower figure. This just shows that you shouldn't rely on one meter our old analogue meter makes the voltage about 13V which is as accurate as I can read.
Ashley

5 minute promo film from the National Final now available here - You can order the full 17 minute version from our online shop now.

Admin.

DVD's now in stock. Order in the online shop and pay by invoice. Also available the stunning 2012 calendar, and National Final T-Shirts are still in stock too!