On Monday the 19th of October, two teams of Year 9 and 10 Industrial Technology & Design students competed in the Interschool Go Kart Challenger hosted by Ipswich City Dirt Kart Track. The competition is an opportunity for students to learn fabrication and automotive skills while experiencing problem-solving, driving and teamwork challenges. It is a tangible way that students can both ‘Belong and Contribute’ and ‘Grow and Thrive’.

We are able to participate in this racing challenge due to our generous sponsors – Electric Fever. Electric Fever are local electrical and air conditioning specialists. We really appreciate their support.

2020 brought its own unique “COVID” challenges to the competition, with a greatly reduce timeline for teams to build, tune and test drive their racing go-karts. Five schools and 11 teams were able to complete the build and enter karts on the day. Mueller College entered two teams, the Dragons and the Swamp Monsters.

This year our drivers were:

Noah Blattman (9)

Jordan Dean (9)

Ethan Priem (9)

Mackenzi Smith (9)

Talitha Thomson (9)

Joel Allen (10)

Hayden Pates (10)

Jayden Richens (10)

Aaron Robinson (10)

Mitchell Vincent (10)

All of our students drove excellently and were able to diagnose and repair multiple problems on the day. The Year 10 team finished in 3rd place overall!!!

Two of our team members were able to win special awards:

Fastest lap of the day: Hayden Pates (44.271 seconds)

For helping in the pits all day and encouraging other students: Joel Allen

Learning to drive on a compacted dirt track is a tough challenge. The opportunity to be able to drift a go-kart around corners allows for some spectacular moments as the students come to grips with the track and kart control.

The competition is an extra-curricular activity, which means that the students and staff involved complete all of the work outside of school time. It is a significant commitment for the students, but the rewards are well worth their effort.

We are currently hoping to raise funds to purchase a trailer to store our karts and transport them to racing and test and tune days. To achieve this goal we are seeking sponsors. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Would your company consider sponsoring the Mueller College go-kart racing teams to enable us to meet this goal? If so, please contact Mr Gater on c.gater@mueller.qld.edu.au

We look forward to the 2021 competition.

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