Author: The Greenpower Team
Hull city centre will host a unique Greenpower Street Race supported by Green Port Hull on Sunday the 28th April 2019.
Following on from a successful race hosted at the KCOM stadium in 2017, Greenpower in collaboration with Green Port Hull are making history by going one step further, holding the first ever electric closed road race in the UK. The event will be a triple header featuring all 3 of the Greenpower race categories; Formula Goblin (age 9-11), F24 (age 11-16), and F24+ (age 16-25).
The event will be staged in the Guildhall area of Hull on a city centre circuit with cars racing around a challenging track, and the Formula Goblin events and a STEM activity area taking place adjacently.
Due to the pioneering nature of the event, and the twisty narrow track, this event will only be open to Kit Car teams from the local area. Teams that wish to compete in the F24(+) Street Race will need to attend the Blyton Park test event to ensure that drivers have some experience before taking to the Hull city circuit, and for the majority of cars to have a full MOT scrutineering prior to the Street Race event.
If you are unsure of eligibility, please contact olivia@greenpower.co.uk
Green Port Hull, who’s vision is to establish Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire as a world class centre for renewable energy is the lead sponsors of the event and is supported by the Regional Growth Fund. Councillor Stephen Brady, Leader of Hull City Council, said: “We support the efforts made by Greenpower in Hull to engage students in careers in the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths. This unique event offers pupils a creative way to learn about these key subjects and we hope it will help to inspire the young people of Hull to begin rewarding careers.”
Schools that entered the Humber region events in 2017/18 expressed their excitement at the prospect of the Street Race:
Francis Askew Primary: ‘Our school has taken part in this event for two years in a row we have had such a fantastic experience, with new skills and pride discovered along the way. We are about to begin our third year of dismantling and reassembling the car. This time, some of our 'veterans', from the previous years, will be taking on mentoring roles, passing on the engineering and driving skills that they had gained, to the new participants.’
Hornsea School & Language College: “Every time team Morpheus write about what we are looking forward to, we talk about our exciting new plans. Once again, we have exciting new plans! We built a great working relationship with St George’s academy when we won at Blyton Park summer 2018 and raced at Rockingham 2018. This relationship has resulted in us acquiring a second car from St George’s academy. We plan to work on this car back at HSLC and hopefully run 2 cars from 2019 onwards! More exciting news includes our plan to build a custom storage facility on our school site for our cars, tools, equipment etc. This will make a big difference to how we can run the F24 project in school and once again raise the profile of the project, enticing more eager engineers to get involved.
A street race next year sounds incredible, it’s exactly what we have been waiting for. When we originally signed up with Greenpower to race in the F24 series, we designed our car ‘Morpheus’ around a difficult and potentially risky street race track. We now have the opportunity to properly test out our original design in the location it was designed to be used in. The 2019 street race will enable our team, our school and our local community to unite – we can’t wait!”
Eastfield Primary: ‘The race teams’ really look forward to this unique event. We enjoy all the opportunities which are presented throughout this project. It brings individuals together into a team working towards a purposeful goal. The project inspires ideas for future careers and teaches us that as a team anything is possible’.
Funding and Grants
Grants are available to help fund teams to get involved in Greenpower. Funding is available for organisations in the Hull and East Riding Council Areas for Formula 24+ teams, and in East Yorkshire & Hull for Formula Goblin teams. Funding for Formula 24 teams is available nationally. To find out more visit www.greenpower.co.uk/project-areas
GREEN PORT HULL
Green Port Hull aims to establish Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire as a world-class centre for renewable energy creating wealth and employment. The Port of Hull’s prime location in relation to the offshore wind opportunities in the North Sea means the region is perfectly placed to capitalise on the UK’s offshore wind industry.
The centrepiece of Green Port Hull is the £310m regeneration and development of Alexandra Dock, by Siemens and Associated British Ports (ABP), to create a world-class offshore wind turbine blade manufacturing, assembly and servicing and export facility.
The facility, which opened in December 2016, has the potential to be the single biggest influence on Hull’s economy for generations. It employs 1,000 people directly on site and has created thousands of support roles within new and existing supply chain businesses. See www.greenporthull.co.uk
In addition to this is the establishment of the Green Port Growth Programme, which is administered by East Riding and Hull City Councils. With an investment of £25.7m the programme, which is supported by the Regional Growth Fund, is designed to capitalise on renewable opportunities and to develop indigenous business growth within the renewables sector, securing long-term economic growth for the region. The project provides continual support to help local businesses recognise and embrace potential opportunities within the renewables sector.
The Regional Growth Fund (RGF)
The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) has supported eligible projects and programmes raising private sector investment to create economic growth and lasting employment.
Investing £2.7 billion to help businesses in England to grow, RGF is expected to create or safeguard around 270,000 jobs by the mid-2020s.
