Skills, strength combo for success

MUSCLE power and human strength was the winner at the recent Human Powered Vehicle challenge held on the Gold Coast.
Good Shepherd Lutheran College’s first ever Human Powered Vehicle team (HPV) is thrilled with their results at the recent HPV Challenge on the Gold Coast, placing fourth out of a field of 30 competing schools from across Queensland and New South Wales.
Having only formed the team two weeks prior to the race, the rooky group of Year 10 to 12 students – made up of eight riders and two pit crew – took turns to race continuously for eight hours using only their muscle strength to propel the vehicle at a top speed of 76km/h.
Good Shepherd Lutheran College director of ICT Scott Josephs said the team did a great job competing against other schools throughout the gruelling competition.
“Eight hours, 222 laps and 246.4km and the GSLC HPV team were in an epic battle for fourth place that went on for over an hour,” he said.
“Special mention to Ricky Flockhart for a best lap time of 1:51:9 minutes and Mac Smith for the longest ride of 50 minutes.”
According to Mr Sinclair, Head of ICT Curriculum and Innovation at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, the program also brings together students with sporting prowess and engineering skills and gives them the opportunity to race vehicles of their own construction and test them in real world environments.
“It also gives students the opportunity to utilise science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM), which is also an important part of the school curriculum,” Mr Sinclair said.
“Through the use of the current trike, we are fostering an interest at the college in engineering and manufacturing, and while the main components have been purchased for our trike, the students have been actively involved in modification and improvement of the trike’s capabilities.”
“Our future goal is to have a team of students construct and race their own custom trike.”
The Good Shepherd HPV team will compete in a total of four races this year, with the focus on competing at the Maryborough Technology Challenge in September which is a 24-hour race that brings together schools from all around Australia.