Mechanical Success for Soap Box Racers
Ciaran from the Lower Sixth looks back on a term of success, speed & streamlined designs for him and his fellow Soap Box Racer engineers.
This article was written by Ciaran, a Design, Engineering & Technology student in the Lower Sixth.
At the end of December, and a long term’s worth of work, my brother and I are overjoyed to finish our little project. We gambled on working together to make a soapbox and, with as few arguments as is realistic to hope for between twins, we now have our own soapbox to joyride around the outside of the DET department – in the name of engineering and material testing, of course. We based our initial chassis design off the triangular wedge shape of the third generation Formula E cars, and although our engineering prowess may be supremely outmatched by names such as Adrian Newey in Formula 1 or even the rookie McLaren team in Formula E, we’ve learnt so much. Examples include picture-perfect welding, compromising across multiple ideas, knowing when to abandon ideas, or embracing new methods to help us test our problem-solving skills.
It was the kind of brilliant project that tested us with brain-itching problems, giving us the freedom to express ourselves (I’m thinking of our vinyl Rugby 1st XV shirt inspired livery), or allowing us the flexibility to make our own solutions. No two soapboxes are alike, meaning it was a different sort of project to those we have tackled in school before – something almost definitely impossible with the scope of our GCSE projects!
My brother and I have learnt so much building the soapbox, from tie rods to the use of thread lock. DET has been such a gift this term, and I am truly thankful.