Essex Goblins at Ford Dunton

Goblins at Essex 2012:

2012 saw a new venue for the Essex Goblin event which was to be held at the Ford Dunton Technical Centre. Earlier in the year seven Goblins kits were loaned out to willing primary schools in the Basildon area, and this was to be their first event. Teams arrived from 9.30 onwards and with all passing scrutineering and driver briefing completed, it was onto the first events of the day – the slalom and the drag. It was clear from the onset that all teams had been practicing and the times would be close!

The Slalom is designed to test driver skill and points are awarded for the fastest time a car completes the course in, but there is a catch- any cones they hit will result in time penalties. At the end of their six runs it was Car 7 from Northlands Primary who came out on top, closely followed by Ryedene Primary and St Marys Climping respectively.

At the same time the drag race was underway. This event is to test car set up and overall car speed- not to mention driver guts to keep the accelerator button down to the very end of the course! At the drop of the flag two cars hurtled towards the finish to not only beat each other but record a fast time. It was the car from Climping who clocked the fastest run, closely followed by Janet Duke Primary and Northlands Primary.

Once the morning events were over it was time for the sprint race. This involved multiple cars on the track at once racing each other to the finish. The winding course provided some close wheel to wheel racing, all drivers were giving it 100% and showed brilliant driving skill. The winners from the heats went through to the final and these were St Marys Climping, Janet Duke and Ryedene who finished in those positions 1^st to 3^rd.

Throughout the day additional awards were being judged. The best presented team went to St Marys Climping, best bodywork went to The Willows Primary, greenest bodywork went to Millhouse Junior School and the portfolios awards went to Janet Duke. A special mention must go to the Pheonix Primary School who stuck together throughout the day when they encountered some mechanical problems; for this they were awarded the spirit of Greenpower award. The overall winners of the day were St Marys Climping.

Huge thanks must go out to all those school, teachers and helpers involved who made the engineering challenge a success. We would also like to thank all the Ford volunteers for their help and the Ford Dunton Technical Centre itself for providing such a super venue. Finally we would like to thank Nicola Gregory and David Cayton for their fantastic support throughout the project. We hope you all had as much fun as we did and hope to see you at an event soon.