Grass Karts from all around the South Island met
in Gore over the weekend for the annual South Island Grass Kart
Challenge.
“In its seventh year the Grass Kart Challenge
involves secondary school teams over the course of academic year
designing and building their own kart design which is then raced at
the Challenge final” said Glenys McKenzie, Challenge Team Leader.
“Teams are assessed on the Construction,
Appearance, Record Keeping and Performance of their kart with the
points for each category evenly weighted with prize packages for
first, second and third in each category and overall. We are very
appreciative of the support we receive from our sponsors BOC,
Blackwoods Protector, Southern Group Training, SIT, Otago
Polytechnic, EDI and Tools4Work. The prize packages have been put to
good use over the years purchasing equipment for various schools’
technology workshops.
Friday night saw the Challenge Team scrutineering
each kart, then judging the Construction and Appearance Awards.
On the Saturday the very popular and highly
competitive Performance Award was competed for over a series of
sprint and slalom races with the best time being recorded for each
team. In the afternoon a series of relay races were held to identify
the eight fastest karts which raced off in a quarter final, then
final relay. Each team had to complete eight laps of the track with
four driver changes.
“The look of absolute concentration on the faces
of the driver’s and their determination to do well is rewarding for
all concerned.” said Mike Grumball Head of Trade and Technology at
SIT.
The Challenge is designed to enable young men and women to
experience a sample of the work they may be expected to do in a
career in the automotive and engineering industries. It builds
excellent team work, communication and time management skills with a
number of past Grass Kart Challenge student team members progressing
on into apprentices” Glenys McKenzie confirmed.