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IMG_9248 Students and staff at the College of West Anglia in King’s Lynn have helped to create a vehicle capable of doing 254 miles to the gallon. And the vehicle was shown off for the first time at the college campus this week (June 17), when Principal David Pomfret was among those admiring the Euro-car, which had competed in a fuel-saving challenge in Rotterdam. Now the team is seeking to raise £5,000 sponsorship to cover travel costs and vehicle improvements so students can compete again next year. Their initiative as part of a three-country team with students from Germany and France, saw them turn in a notable performance in a huge eco-marathon event organised by Shell in The Netherlands. It was the first time the college had taken part in the event which saw thousands of students involved in 200 teams. Student Raffe O’Brien and lecturer Chris Rabicano, project co-ordinator and technology lecturer, had travelled to Rotterdam to join their German and French team-mates. It was back in 2011 that the college entered into a joint European project to design and construct an “eco friendly” vehicle with partner colleges Heinrich – Hertz in Germany and Leonardo de Vinci in France. The initial planning meeting held in King’s Lynn allocated the chassis design to the Germans, bodywork to the French and the engine / electrical systems to the CWA team. After numerous student trips between the three colleges the vehicle was entered into the Shell eco–marathon in Rotterdam. The eco marathon is a competition held every year involving student teams from all over Europe trying to achieve the maximum efficiency from vehicles in one of several categories including petrol, electric and diesel propulsion. CWA decided to enter the petrol fuelled prototype section using a Honda 31cc single cylinder 4 stroke engine normally used for garden strimmers. Raffe, a second year student from the BTEC Extended Diploma Engineering course and Chris travelled over to meet the German team at the race track. Chris said: “After a 6am start we headed off to the race track for a quick spy round of the other teams vehicles and made preparations for the first round of trial runs. “We were pleased by the reliability of our car but aware of the technical advances other teams had incorporated into their vehicles. It was later shown that increasing complexity reduces reliability with several university teams failing to achieve the ten laps of the course required.” After testing and examination by the Shell technical teams, the vehicle, sporting the College of West Anglia name and logo, had its first official ten lap race of the 1.6km circuit the next day followed by two subsequent runs the day after that. Chris said: “The results: We achieved a fuel consumption of 254 mpg which placed us 40thout of 59 teams beating several university entries. Overall the project has been a great success. “Students were able to use Solidworks 3D CAD as the agreed method of communicating ideas between the three countries then turning designs into reality using the college’s CNC, Laser and 3D printing facilities.” Chris Rabicano said in his report:“In support of the college’s vision to provide the opportunity to change lives through learning, the underlining working principles of project Eco- Cart did just that through an inspirational engineering design concept, which has developed excellence through partnership, provided new communication experiences through direct and indirect partner contact, and promoted an understanding and integration to other cultures. “Furthermore, the project provided engineering students the opportunity to fully engage in college’s underlying values of total freedom of creative expression when developing the design structure of this project.” The plan for next year’s competition is to modify the current car with fuel injection, an electric starter, bigger wheels and weight reduction alongside developing a new chassis and new body. From September 2014 a team of six students will develop the new vehicle and travel out to Rotterdam in May 2015 as CWA representatives of the existing tripartite college project. The Lynn college wants to hear from students who want to join the next project in September.   PICTURE Back row, from left: Chris Challender, Tony Williams, project manager engineering and electrical, Principal David Pomfret, Chris Rabicano and Tom Griffiths, European projects manager. Front row, students to be involved in the next project: Sam Fletcher, Tyler Griffin and Peter Kirman    

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