Logan high school students were in the fast lane when they took part in the 2022 Formula Student 6 Hour Relay event at Lakeside Park Raceway.
The Year 11 and 12 students, from Loganlea State High, Marsden State High, Flagstone State Community College and Eagleby Learning College, spent the year preparing for the competition, including building their own car for the event.
Greig Frankham, Managing Director of Formula Student, said the course makes students ‘work ready’ as part of the training, culminating in the MEM20413 Cert II in Engineering Pathways.
“I have a background in race car engineering and fabrication, and I had young people coming in who had technical expertise, but they didn’t know how to be ‘job ready’,” Mr Frankham said.
“The goal was to make their school operate like a business, with students learning workshop safety and etiquette, as well as job skills including how to clock on and off of jobs.”
Shane Nelson, an engineering teacher at Marsden State High after many years as an aviation mechanic, said students impressed with their enthusiasm, and willingness to learn new skills.
“We took a mix of Year 12 students, who drove the car, and Year 11 students, who worked as the pit crew, it was definitely a fun day for them, they will remember it for the rest of their lives,” Mr Nelson said.
“This was the first metal fabrication project for the Year 11 students, this is gold to them, they learned lathe skills, milling and machining, as well as MIG welding and fabrication, plus assembly and mechanical skills when it was time to put the car together.”
Mr Nelson said the course had already paid dividends, with some of the Year 12 students already securing apprenticeships, including as a boilermaker and mechanic.
Despite being late starters in the Formula Student program, Loganlea State High School students impressed with their abilities and teamwork, teacher Neil Jeffers said after the event.
“Normally, this project is done over two years, the students start building the car in Year 11, and then race it at the end of Year 12, but we only got involved this year, so it was a bit different,” Mr Jeffers said.
“To get us on track, Formula Student gave us an older car, and the students updated it to make it race ready, including fabricating new suspension arms and other components, and fitting them to the car.”
Despite spending much of the race in first and second, Mr Jeffers said a previous repair failed later in the day, forcing the car into the pits for repairs.
“The had previously been crashed and repaired before we got it, and this repair failed, a rear upright collapsed, Bradley and Joel repaired the car in the pits, taking parts from another car that had retired, and got our car back on track.
“After it was back running, we had dropped to sixth, but the team managed to get back to finish in third place, which was a great result for them at their first attempt.”
