The St John’s College Eco-Marathon Club took part in the inaugural Shell Eco-Challenge Marathon from 25 to 28 October at Zwartkops Raceway.
The team was made up of Kyle Kruger, Max Day, Tendo Ligudu, Thomas Granig, Charles Robertson and David Green. The eco-challenge called on participants to build a fuel-efficient vehicle that could cover the greatest distance using the least amount of energy.
The spokesperson for St John’s College Jacqui Deeks said, “Each team is allowed five attempts and a joulemeter records the energy consumption for the four laps of the circuit which must be completed in under 25 minutes. A calculation is then used to extrapolate the data to give how many kilometres would have been covered using one kilowatt of electrical energy.”
Deryck Armour of the St John’s College science department said spirits were low on Thursday and Friday as the St John’s vehicle repeatedly failed scrutineering because of a faulty brake. “Saturday saw frantic work being done on the car along with all sorts of innovative ideas as we tried to get the vehicle through the braking test. Finally, after exhaustive visits to the technical inspection area, the St John’s College car received the license disc for the 2018 race.”
Deeks added, “Unfortunately, there was no time for any practice laps and early Sunday morning David Green took her out for the first official attempt.”
The college team came in second place to the University of Namibia with an energy efficiency of 217,4 km/kW.
Deeks concluded, “It was, however, encouraging to note that our St John’s College team placed ahead of four University of Johannesburg teams and Curro School Krugersdorp. This is an excellent achievement for the Eco-Marathon Club’s first attempt.”
Details: www.stjohnscollege.co.za
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