Green Power International Finals – Goodwood 2024

The Garth Hill Blazers Greenpower Team were again very pleased to end the 2024 racing season with a place in the International Grand Finals at Goodwood Motor Circuit. The finals gather the eighty-five top cars from around the country and abroad to meet and crown an overall champion. As well as teams from as far away as Scotland and Cornwall, the event also included teams from Portugal, Belgium and France. This event also marked the retirement for our Year 11 students to allow the next generation of pupils to take over. This team have been through a two-year cycle of developing the racing cars, completing alterations/ upgrades and honing their driving skills on the track.

The final is run over two races, each one lasting one and a half hours. Race one determines grid position for the grand final which in turn crowns a champion. On a cold October morning we started 59th on the grid in race one and our first two drivers – Kieran and Maya skilfully moved us up to a best position of 16th. However, as the team pitted for our final driver (Grace) to take over, disaster struck (again!) when a bracket failure meant that our motor moved out of position and effectively ended our race. Hasty repairs allowed us to fix the bracket and reposition the motor ready for race two. Our final position being 63rd out of 85 cars.

We lined up in anticipation for race two knowing that we have the skill and experience to move up through the pack and were aiming for a top 30 finish. Team Captain Riley led us off and quickly worked his way through the field moving us up over several laps to sneak into the top 20. A red flag incident stopped the race but once cleared, our final drivers (Cowan and Lara) took us home, finishing in a very respectable joint 23rd overall. This is an improvement from 41st at last year’s final and a testament to the engineering, team-working and driving skills of the whole team.

Looking ahead to next season, we are investigating the possibility of entering an F24+ sixth form team as well as getting our second car fully operational to allow us to aim for an even higher position next year. Our new Year 9 team of students can hopefully build on the success of our retiring team and enjoy all of the aspects of being involved in the Green Power racing competition.

A final thank you again for the support of parents and staff who give up their time to provide engineering advice, lead afterschool clubs and attend the (lengthy) race events – it is most appreciated.