Thursday 8 October 2009

Land Speed Record Day at the High School

Last Friday we visited the High School (Thomas Mills) for an activity day. First of all we went into the science department and Mr G told us about land speed records and that we would be building our own cars.
We went with Mrs Hart to one of the classrooms to try to convince other teams to sponsor us. Our team was called 'Pink Lightening' - Ted's idea! Our slogan was 'There can only be one winner'.
Each team had £240 to give to other teams. Our team won the most money. After this session we had lunch.
Then we started making our cars. We had a block of styrofoam with a block of wood. First we drew an outline of the car. Using a clamp and a copping saw we cut out the car shape.
Next we had to put the wheels onto the block of wood.
We decorated our cars and then there were ready to be tested.
We rolled our car down a ramp and saw how far they went.
We could work out their speed.
We also got to see the cars in a wind tunnel with smoke passing over them. This showed how streamlined the design was.
Our day at the high school was great fun.

Report by Theo, Josh and Sacha from Class DB