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QEGS pupils win national competition to build remote control car
National champions Team Alpha comprising of Freddie Payne, James Law, Frazer Dever, Daniel Young and Lauren Bird. The team designed and built the best remote control vehicle.
A TEAM of students from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Horncastle have been crowned champions after designing and building the best remote control 4x4 vehicle.
Five-strong Team Alpha, comprising of Freddie Payne, James Law, Frazer Dever, Daniel Young and Lauren Bird, won this accolade at the 4x4 Schools Technology Challenge National Finals.
They collected their trophy from the National Transport Museum in Coventry and also received a £1000 university scholarship award to Harper Adams College, Shropshire, for one of the team members.
Manager of Team Alpha, Freddie Payne, 16, said: “We are over the moon. We won our age category last year, but really didn’t expect to win the whole thing because there were so many good cars. We started working on our car last October, so it’s been nearly a year-long project. All our hard work as paid off though so it has all been worth it.
“I think one of the main features which helped us win was the four wheel steering. It was really difficult to design this and it took us nearly two months to crack it, but we got it to work and that was a great achievement.
“The whole project became a bit of an obsession for us; we put in loads of hours, not just in building the car but all the other elements too, with the verbal presentation and display that you have to do. Winning today has been brilliant and we have had a great time competing in this Challenge.”
The path to success has been hard-fought for Team Alpha, with the team battling against other local school teams at the Central Regional Finals, where they won overall and collected the Best Engineered Car award, before travelling to Coventry for the National Finals just a couple of weeks later.
Steering a 4x4 car around a course of obstacles was just one of the nerve-wracking tests faced by the 4x4 National Finalists.
They also had to give a presentation to a team of judges and excel in a number of different areas.
David Lakin, national project manager for the competition, said: “We’ve had great feedback from students and teachers who appreciate the opportunity to have a go at putting their school work into practice in a challenging way and one which is good fun.
“The students not only learn about engineering principles and the core education subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths, but they also improve their social skills and communication techniques, which are so valuable as they move into higher education, apprenticeships and the workplace.”
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Weather for Horncastle
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: North
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