Members of the Bishop Luffa GreenPower F24 team were given the privilege of a VIP tour of the Volkswagen Group Paint & Body Centre as part of their journey in building the school’s first GreenPower F24 car. Year 10 students Alex Wilburn (10Otter), Sam Goldsmith (10Burrows), Seb Cunningham (10Wilson) and Sam Tonks (10King) presented their aerodynamic research, car design ideas and colour scheme plan to brand manager Richard Vandenberg, and body shop Chief Engineer Ivan. The team had a full tour of the body shop, asking questions throughout about core engineering techniques, equipment and tools used in an ever-technological industry. Both Richard and Ivan were so impressed with the teams forward thinking, enthusiasm, commitment, maturity, and dedication to the GreenPower project that both Richard and Ivan offered VW sponsorship to guide, advise and assist the team with the outer body design and fitting, along with a full professional spray paint finish to the car.
Following advice from the visit the team have a lot of further research to carry out, such as modeling and testing various outer body shells using modeling materials and trade techniques, before going back to VW with their final design.
Exciting times ahead!
Mr J Bonney, Head of Design & Technology Faculty