Renishaw apprentices race to success

16th December 2016

Renishaw plc

Enaie Azambuja

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A team of apprentices and graduates from global engineering company Renishaw raced to success at this year’s Greenpower final on Rockingham Motor Speedway. The event, held on October 15th and 16th, saw the team achieve both first and second place in the Silverline Corporate Challenge where they competed against other companies. Greenpower events involve teams of young people aged between 9 and 25 to design, build and race fully functional electric cars to inspire an interest in engineering careers.

The latest Greenpower event saw 130 teams in the F24 (11-16 year-olds) and F24+ (16-24 year-olds), with the F24+ category racing electric cars, equipped with two standard car batteries, for an hour. The exciting final was the culmination of the season during which Renishaw competed in eight races.

Renishaw’s Matthew Hunter raced to success in the Corporate Challenge, closely followed in second place by teammate Oliver Rodway. The Renishaw F24+ team was also awarded the Siemens PLM Engineering and Design Award for the cars’ innovative designs and the Siemens Digital Award for its telemetry and phone app.

“I’ve been involved with Greenpower since I was at primary school and although I’ve always been interested in engineering, these events have definitely influenced my career choice,” explained Matthew Hunter, an apprentice at Renishaw.

“As well as taking part in the racing itself, Renishaw apprentices help Greenpower inspire young people, both by volunteering at the Goblins races for the younger age group and by assisting with any technical challenges in the F24 category on the day of the final.”

“This was an unexpected result for my second season of Greenpower racing. Last year I finished seventh in the Corporate Challenge,” explained Oliver Rodway, an apprentice at Renishaw. “We used this as a benchmark to make significant improvements to the car. The improvements we made to the vehicles throughout the season are proof that even low budget cars have race-winning potential.”

“The Renishaw Greenpower team works with an annual budget of just £1,000, in contrast to some of the other competitors who spend well in excess of £10,000,” explained Chris Pockett, Head of Communications of Renishaw.

“In keeping with the spirit of Greenpower our team also uses only materials and equipment available to the schools in the competition to design its cars. Our young apprentices use creative thinking - not a large budget - to design innovative cars, and ultimately this is what earns them the place on the podium.”

Renishaw has supported Greenpower for ten years, sponsoring events for secondary school students at Castle Combe, hosting events at its New Mills headquarters and recently hosting the inaugural South Wales Greenpower event at its Miskin site. In 2015, Renishaw won both the F24+ category and the Corporate Challenge.