South West Heat, Well done Boys!

What an awesome day of Racing! The sun was shining on us in Newquay today as the car took to the track in its first competitive race. After a bit of a ropey start the boys settled in and we started to put some consistent laps in. The track surface was really rough on the tyres and some emergency tyre repair took us out for another long period, dropping our position in the field. This was when our star driver, Harrison, stepped up. After putting in some awesome laps we started gaining on the opposition. As the final minutes ticked away we found ourselves in 3rd position with plenty of juice left in the batteries and took lap after lap off the second place cars from Penair and Newton Abbot College; but it proved to be a stretch too far and we finished in the bronze medal position, guaranteeing us a place at Goodwood in October.
As well as the bronze medal, we also picked up some of the  supplementary awards. We were awarded the IMechE 'Best Engineered Car' and also the IoM3 'Innovative Use of Materials' awards, but perhaps the most prestigious is the Sustainability Award from CoolEarth who were so impressed with our biodegradable chassis and overall 'green' ethos that we were awarded an acre of Amazonian Rainforest!

RLR1 on the BBC

Here is the video of us at Perranporth:



Check it out.

Airfield Testing

Today we went to Perranporth Airfield for some testing. We were given a nice long straight to get the car really going to get a real sense of what it can do. The car performed well but the boys defiantly need some guidance on how to use the gears effectively. The majority of our testing was documented by the local press with BBC Spotlight filming a great deal and interviewing the boys and also myself. There is also some awesome on-board footage which will look amazing on the telly. If you want to catch it we will be on Monday at 6.30pm.

The Launch

The Launch party was a massive success. There was a great turnout and everyone was very impressed with the car and the boys were excellent hosts. After a speech from Mr Lloyd-King the car was unveiled and the team was photographed with it for the local press, a chance to show off it's new red paintwork. When the lads had stopped vying to be Britain's Next Top Model, the cowlings and the bonnet were removed so the guests could get a good view of all the technical parts which are normally covered up.
With the sun shinning out in the Quad, we took the car out and the boys took it for a spin around the playground, expertly avoiding all the Lamp posts!

AWESOME!

Tonight was epic! With the launch party only a day away we cracked on with some of the decorative work, putting decals on for the sponsors and also painting the nose, cowling and bonnet. Finally, at about 8 in the evening we had a car that looked amazing! The red paint job and the red vinyl stickers look excellent together and I think we can be really proud to show the car off tomorrow at the launch. As usual we took plenty of photos but I will hold off on posting them so as not to ruin the surprise when the car is  officially unveiled.

Crash!

We got the car out testing yesterday and it was AWESOME! Then it crashed. While we were testing on the tennis courts one of the drivers mis judged the corner and hit the chain link fence. This was his first drive in the car and he was a bit over exuberant behind the wheel! The damage looked worse than it really was with a bent front axle and track rod; an afternoon of tinkering and it was good as new. The biggest damage being the ego of the driver involved.
Back in the workshop, the nose cone is coming together.  The foam block, made from the paddle board blank from Home Blown, was glued up on Wednesday and the shaping is now almost finished. Both the rear cowling and the nose will be given a layer of the bio-resin to stiffen them up and protect them from dings as well as giving a nice aerodynamic surface.