Students race for Grand Prix success

Belridge Secondary College Year 9 and 10 students put their minds and engineering skills to the test in the inaugural state final of the Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP).

The college placed second out of 20.

The H2GP challenges students to build and modify a hydrogen-powered small model remote-control car to race against others.  

Lucius Chen, Technology and Enterprise head of learning area, and teacher Rebecca Edmonds worked with the students on their car each week, during and after school. 

Mr Chen said the students built the car model and learnt how the power source operated, before practicing their driving. They also needed to work out how to optimise the energy use for the endurance race. 

“The team were able to work through challenges to find the best outcomes, and to communicate effectively with each other,” he said. 

On competition day, the students raced their car in a four-hour endurance race, putting their measurements and planning to the test. 

Focussing on maximising fuel efficiency to keep it running, students attempted to achieve the most laps possible while making repairs and fine-tuning during pit stops. 

Year 10 student Dexter Cooper said it was a fun project. He enjoyed racing on the day and practicing in the gym. 

“It was interesting to learn how all the components of the car worked together. It was also tricky to attach the hydrogen cell power,” he said. 

Matthew Kay, a Year 10 student, said making the car was difficult, but finishing and modifying it was a lot of fun.

 

“My favourite part of the project was racing the car on the day as it was a good friendly competition that went well as a whole,” he said. 

All three teams from Belridge Secondary College, Carmegeddon, Interceptor and Mike Carowski, placed in the top 10. But it was Carmegeddon that took out second place. 

“We were so excited to have one of the teams’ place second overall, and all three teams place in the top 10,” said Mr Chen.  

“It was such an amazing achievement by all involved, and we are thrilled with these results.” 

The whole team was excited to win second at the inaugural competition and see all their hard work pay off. 

“It felt great to stand up and represent our school on the podium and was a proud moment for the whole team,” said Matthew. 

Emmanuel Catholic College won top place and will soon head to Anaheim California to compete in the World Finals. 

Already looking ahead to 2025, the team said next time they’ll use better batteries, more power efficient motors, a lighter shell and lower the cars centre of gravity. 

Learn more about the competition here. 

Read about the WA competition here.