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Supacat sponsorship boosts Taunton School’s electric racing car competition bid

08-02-2013

Supacat, a company whose design skills span high performance military vehicles to wave energy conversion devices, is supporting aspiring engineers at Taunton School to boost their performance in the national Greenpower electric racing car competition.

Taunton School is one of 400 schools competing to design an electrically powered racing car, which is judged on the distance covered within a four hour period.  Currently ranked in 15th position, the Taunton team’s aim is to break into the top ten with a new all-carbon vehicle design, code named `Project Photon`, and break the 100 miles barrier.

Supacat hosted a visit by a group of the students, during which a cheque for £1000 was presented by Nick Baker, Supacat’s Engineering Manager to Jon Baker, Head of Design & Technology at Taunton School.  This will fund the car’s manufacturing costs. In addition, Supacat’s engineers will be giving their time to mentor students and provide practical advice.

The students were given a tour of the company’s facility at Dunkeswell, Devon,  where they saw the acclaimed `Jackal` high mobility patrol vehicle used by British Forces in Afghanistan as well as the Lifeboat Launch & Recover System developed by Supacat for the RNLI’s new Shannon class lifeboat.  Their guide was Supacat’s RNLI Project Engineer, Simon Turner, a former Taunton School student who will act as the Greenpower liaison contact.

Supacat’s Nick Baker said, “With our expertise in vehicle design and new direction into renewable energy, the Greenpower project is a perfect fit and we are delighted to be able to help the Taunton School team.  Supacat is a keen supporter of school engineering projects to inspire young engineers and this is the latest in a number of projects we’ve supported in the local area”.

Taunton School’s Jon Baker said, “The team is very excited to be involved with Supacat in the development of our new monocoque construction Greenpower car. Inspiring the next generation of engineers through developing high quality efficient racing vehicles is what we strive for and we are delighted that Supacat share this vision for the young budding engineers at Taunton School. Through visits and meetings with Supacat’s leading engineers we have already identified some exciting possibilities to pursue in order to help place our 2013 car ‘Panther’ in the top ten nationally. The season starts at the end of April so watch this space….. “

 

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