Back in June our team of racers headed to the Lotus Race track to compete in one of the regional F24 green power electric car race competitions. Their first time racing, they managed to qualify in the top 40 schools across the regional events meaning they qualified for the international finals! The finals day arrived and the team headed to Goodwood, with Mr Mottley and Mrs Mottley. Over 140 teams were competing from all over the world. At one point in the race, after about 7 laps, Team Northgate reached 10th position in their category however sadly, due to an incident which was out of their hands, their race had to come to an end. The team are determined though, to come back even better.
Denver, Year 8, was part of the team. Here she tells us why she got involved and about the whole racing experience. ‘I joined the F24 green power car club because I like cars and I thought it would be fun. My friend Talli told me about it, so we joined together. I liked the idea of learning more about cars and how they worked and especially the thought of racing!’
‘We spent our time at the after-school club, learning about the green power electric car and getting it ready for our first race day. There were four of us working on the project, me, Talli, Jensen and Malachi, and our teachers, Mr Mottley and Mr MacDonald.’
‘Our first race day was at the Lotus racetrack, where we all got to race the car. It was a very exciting day, and we ended up coming 29th out of 150 schools and qualified for the finals. The finals were at the Goodwood Motor Track which was very far away, so we drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel for the night, which was fun.’
‘We were ready and excited for the finals, and had done our practice runs, but unfortunately quite soon after the race began, we had an accident with the car and couldn’t carry on. But what a fantastic experience anyway! I’m so proud of us as a team and how we’ve worked together so well. My favourite part has actually been racing the car, but I’ve really enjoyed working on the car too and we’re still working on it, getting it ready again for the next race.’
Malachi, who was also part of the team, gives us his point of view. ‘My experience at the F24 International Finals at Goodwood was an experience of a lifetime, getting to drive on a world-famous motor racing circuit. The atmosphere was exhilarating both in the pits, the paddocks and out on the track. There was a real collective spirit between the team members throughout the day. My highlight was, the international qualifiers which had some of our most successful pit stops. The event taught me even though Northgate is a smaller school in mid – Norfolk our achievements to get to the international F24 finals showed anything is possible!’
Take a look at some photos from the day below.
