The News
Sunday 8th May 2022
Practice - Practice was the best start of the day for us at goodwood, lots of technical gremlins and other problems only meant that we did 1 whole lap in bluebird! And we did 5 in Purple predator. It was a real shame because we were trying to get as many drivers on track for the first time as possible so they could race later in the day. At one point somebody who I shall not name let’s say.. Gave the wall a friendly high five in bluebird.
Race 1 - Bluebird:We had fully fixed our car now and were ready to race, after saving our energy through the race and having alright pit-stops we managed to finish in P3 meaning we have qualified already for the finals in september
Purple: well well well, we though we had fixed purple, everything was going very smoothly at at one point were were in 4th place then we were going to flag it in for a pitstop and it never came! Turned out we had ran out of power and stopped on track! So it came into the pits and we fixed it as fast as we could and sent it back out but the same thing happened again! Not the best day for Purple in the end
Race 2- Bluebird:We had fully fixed our car now and were ready to race, after saving our energy through the race and having alright pit-stops we managed to finish in P3 meaning we have qualified already for the finals in september
Purple: well well well, we though we had fixed purple, everything was going very smoothly at at one point were were in 4th place then we were going to flag it in for a pitstop and it never came! Turned out we had ran out of power and stopped on track! So it came into the pits and we fixed it as fast as we could and sent it back out but the same thing happened again! Not the best day for Purple in the end
Race 1 - Bluebird:We had fully fixed our car now and were ready to race, after saving our energy through the race and having alright pit-stops we managed to finish in P3 meaning we have qualified already for the finals in september
Purple: well well well, we though we had fixed purple, everything was going very smoothly at at one point were were in 4th place then we were going to flag it in for a pitstop and it never came! Turned out we had ran out of power and stopped on track! So it came into the pits and we fixed it as fast as we could and sent it back out but the same thing happened again! Not the best day for Purple in the end
Race 2- Bluebird:We had fully fixed our car now and were ready to race, after saving our energy through the race and having alright pit-stops we managed to finish in P3 meaning we have qualified already for the finals in september
Purple: well well well, we though we had fixed purple, everything was going very smoothly at at one point were were in 4th place then we were going to flag it in for a pitstop and it never came! Turned out we had ran out of power and stopped on track! So it came into the pits and we fixed it as fast as we could and sent it back out but the same thing happened again! Not the best day for Purple in the end
Sunday 10th October 2021
An amazing day at Goodwood! After a drizzly start start to the day, practice looked promising. Coming 3rd in the first heat, with bluebird, we couldn't help but be a little excited. Scott drove an incredible 20 minutes in the second, and placed us 2nd before Ed got into the car. We took first, with some very techinical driving skills. Finally, Marco took the wheel for a second time on Sunday and we won the final heat. The results were worked out, and it was revealed that we had beaten Apex, the main competition at the final by 64m, and 0.001% of the track. It was close, and tense, but an incredibly happy result. We are looking forward to more nail-biting racing in the coming season.
Sunday 10th June 2018
What a nice day at goodwood, Bluebird came 3rd in both F24 races and Purple came 10th in race 2 after having to retire in race 1 after our steering snapped. Also in our F24+ race our brand new car X, came 6th which was a huge achievement to get it running at all today
Wednesday 2nd May 2018
We had a great day today at the Rockingham Season Opener. Race 1; Purple and Bluebird came 3rd and 4th.
Race 2; Bluebird and Purple came 2nd and 4th. Overall the day went pretty well as we got to test out new drivers but the only downfall was the weather
Race 2; Bluebird and Purple came 2nd and 4th. Overall the day went pretty well as we got to test out new drivers but the only downfall was the weather
Monday 23rd April 2018
Hurray, It was the Dunsfold test day yesterday and used this opportunity to test the modifications to the Black Bullet and to test our brand new car X which our older team didn't know if it was going to work or pass scrutineer but after are fourth try we passed and exceeded with the best lap time being a 1'48.3.
Thursday 2nd February 2017
Today we got the black bullet scanned so we can improve aerodynamics on the cars, we will hopefully get the rest of the cars scanned in the near future.
Thursday 5th January 2017
this week we got BlueBird back from WorleyParsons' reception which is one of the sponsors.
(twitter.com/WealdGP/status/796452842882076676)
(twitter.com/WealdGP/status/796452842882076676)
July 2016
BlueBird -> croft
Unscheduled front left wheel dissemble put us out of free practice. unable to start race due to the electrical board firing and the throttle stuck open
Unscheduled front left wheel dissemble put us out of free practice. unable to start race due to the electrical board firing and the throttle stuck open
June 2016
In June we went to Goodwood and in race 1 the Purple Predator came 2nd and Black Bullet came 13th and in race 2 the Purple Predator came 3rd and Black Bullet came 4th and BlueBird our new car that was built this year came 4th in the 1st race and 9th in the 2nd race.
May 2016
In May we attended the practice session and test race at Rockingham ahead of the start of the new season. As at Goodwood we tried out new drivers and tested a couple of new ideas on the cars. Purple Predator ran to plan, finishing second in the test race, which considering our casual pit stops was not too bad. However Black Bullet was suffering from the effects of its crash at Rockingham (thank you again to the kit car team that ran us off the road!) so it had a motor failure and wheel axle/bearing issue that caused it problems in the test race, so it has been back to the workshop for a thorough strip down and rebuild ahead of qualifying at Goodwood in June
April 2016
Test One – Goodwood
The plan for the Goodwood test was to primarily run Purple Predator with both the existing drivers and the new recruits to test out their skills to see if they qualified to make the race drivers team.
The plan for the Goodwood test was to primarily run Purple Predator with both the existing drivers and the new recruits to test out their skills to see if they qualified to make the race drivers team.
January 2016
Winter testing saw us try out our high rise wind tunnel system with Purple Predator benefiting from several runs captured on all angles by the GoPro Cameras, so we tried a number of aero changes, one of which we will take to the first practise at Goodwood to try in a full race simulation. We also have a radical idea for both cars that we will try on Black Bullet first and then if successful put on both cars in time for the qualifying heat at Rockingham and the subsequent final, so watch this space!
November 2015
October 2015
This year the final moved to Rockingham Raceway in Northampton as a 2 day event with testing on Saturday and two races on Sunday, with the total distance covered in both races being used to calculate the overall winner. We tested and did a qualifying race at Rockingham to prepare so we knew the challenge ahead. Despite not being a drivers challenge, as it is just a large oval to run round, so our advance of superior drivers via our driver training and simulator program was reduced, it has a huge pit lane where time could be lost and an uphill back straight that today had a strong head wind running.
Race one saw a change of start rules with a rolling start behind the pace car. Unfortunately at the push off Black bullet blew a fuse damaging its circuit board and coasted round into the pits for immediate electrical repair. Despite starting 3 laps behind the top teams, it still managed a credible 22 at the end after some great driving and pit stops by the team. Gearing proved to be difficult to perfect with a strong head wind on the back straight causing a challenge, so despite flying down the front straight Black Bullet was hampered by aggressive gearing which was changed for Race 2. Purple Predator had a more straight forward race, a good start tucked behind the pace car saw it lead in the early laps, before again an aggressive gearing caused it to fade to third at the end of the race as its batteries dropped off sharper than we had seen in testing.
Race Two saw Black Bullet nail the start almost over taking the pace car and easily leading the opening laps with Purple Predator tucked in behind as the drives lapped the back markers and settled into a good rhythm. Pit stops went to plan and the cars were only slowed by fading batteries towards the end, which saw Purple Predator finished third again for third overall on the day and Black Bullet finish in 28 place for 11 overall on the day.
Overall it was a good effort against our arch rivals Rotary Racer from Chipping Sodbury school, we finished third overall in the championship not too far behind Rotary Racer on total miles and despite some dubious rule bending by teams (a topic we met to discuss with the Greenpower management after the race), it was a good result, next year we have new ideas to try!
Race one saw a change of start rules with a rolling start behind the pace car. Unfortunately at the push off Black bullet blew a fuse damaging its circuit board and coasted round into the pits for immediate electrical repair. Despite starting 3 laps behind the top teams, it still managed a credible 22 at the end after some great driving and pit stops by the team. Gearing proved to be difficult to perfect with a strong head wind on the back straight causing a challenge, so despite flying down the front straight Black Bullet was hampered by aggressive gearing which was changed for Race 2. Purple Predator had a more straight forward race, a good start tucked behind the pace car saw it lead in the early laps, before again an aggressive gearing caused it to fade to third at the end of the race as its batteries dropped off sharper than we had seen in testing.
Race Two saw Black Bullet nail the start almost over taking the pace car and easily leading the opening laps with Purple Predator tucked in behind as the drives lapped the back markers and settled into a good rhythm. Pit stops went to plan and the cars were only slowed by fading batteries towards the end, which saw Purple Predator finished third again for third overall on the day and Black Bullet finish in 28 place for 11 overall on the day.
Overall it was a good effort against our arch rivals Rotary Racer from Chipping Sodbury school, we finished third overall in the championship not too far behind Rotary Racer on total miles and despite some dubious rule bending by teams (a topic we met to discuss with the Greenpower management after the race), it was a good result, next year we have new ideas to try!
September 2015
Return to school means a focus on the getting the cars ready for the Final at Rockingham in October as we choose to sit out the final Qualifying round at Dunsfold. We are making further aerodynamic improvements and well as changing the driver positioning in Purple Predator to get better weight distribution. We have also updated the car’s colour scheme, ready for the final!
July 2015
We competed in the Qualifying round at Rockingham, scoring a 2nd and 3rd in the first race and a 1st and 5th in the second race as we tried different strategies.
The aim was to improve our qualifying position by going further in the race using 2 different approaches, which we succeeded in doing as we’re currently on the front row for the final.
The aim was to improve our qualifying position by going further in the race using 2 different approaches, which we succeeded in doing as we’re currently on the front row for the final.
June 2015
We competed in the Qualifying round at Goodwood, scoring a 1st and 3rd in the first race, and a 2nd and 6th in the second race as we tried different strategies.
The aim of race one was to qualify so we could try out different ideas in race 2, which we achieved.
The aim of race one was to qualify so we could try out different ideas in race 2, which we achieved.
May 2015
We went to the second test phase of the season at Rockingham Motor Speedway, where we tested more new drivers and a new motor controller.
April 2015
We went to the first of the season test days at Goodwood where we tested new drivers, motor control and data logging.
January 2015
As defending champions, for 2015 there is an ambitious development plan for development of the two cars, so the team are improving on the electronics, the aerodynamics, and the weight of each of the cars, constructing a rolling road, a wind tunnel to aid the design changes and training the new drivers via a simulator and adding a data logging capability to each car to analyse the races better.