The lads get down to work...
We remember GCSE Science, and it’s not the happiest of memories. The periodic table often gave way to a well-thumbed issue of Autosport given a seat at the back of the class. However, things might have been very different if we’d had Mr Kneeshaw as our teacher.
You see, Mr Kneeshaw – that’s ‘Sir’ to you please – decided to make his lessons “a bit more interesting and relevant to the real world” and integrated Bio-Ethanol production into his GCSE Science course.
“I contacted Greenfuels Ltd and they lent us an industrial quality still so we can make 100 litre batches of fuel-quality ethanol” says the teacher. It was at this point however, that the mental leap was made, and we’re sure it’s one that you’ll approve of.
Now pay attention, class...
“We had to find a use for the ethanol and my wife had just replaced her Rover for an ST Mondeo. The most obvious thing to do was to race the Rover on the fuel!
Good thinking sir! We’ll let the teacher carry on the story: “I think the civic/integra/45/MGZS has a cracking chassis and since second-hand Rovers aren’t exactly holding their value, selling it didn’t seem like an option.”
“It’s been entertaining seeing the reaction of the students. They now look upon the MG marque in a different light; MG should have given a load of cars to schools for this kind of thing instead of advertising as it would have done wonders for their image. Mind you, having teachers driving them at sensible speeds would have neutralised much of this...”
Rover 45 turned into a race car
“I’m still fed up of the year sevens saying that the fire extinguisher is NOS though!”
“Having the students build a racing car also enabled me to get my students into mechanics as the car needed stripping down and rebuilding. In fact, the only thing that the students have not fitted is the roll cage.”
“Since getting kids interested in working on cars was one of my aims, I decided that endurance racing was the most challenging for mechanics and there’s no better race for your money than the Silverstone 24 hours. James Tucker (the race organiser) has been a great encouragement for the project.”
Wife's Rover now has a V6
“I contacted X-Part who donated a huge amount of parts and the car was converted into a 2005 spec MG ZS 180 (V6). Lifeline provided us with a fire extinguisher system; Corbeau with a bucket seat and harness, and ATL gave us a 100 litre fuel tank. Leda also helped out with a great new suspension set up.”
“Unfortunately, we won’t be running bio-ethanol in 2007 (due to an MSA ruling), but we are hoping to be allowed to do so in 2008. Basically, the final spec of the car isn’t bad for an after-school Science club.”
“We are testing the car at Bruntingthorpe on the 26
July and following this it’s off to Emerald for a rolling road session. With the Janspeed exhaust and an ITG air filter we may be able to get 200bhp out of the 2.5 V6; the down side is that it weighs 1000kg. We’ve got one more test at Snetterton before it’s off to Silverstone for the big day...”
“However, the final hurdle is finding drivers. We need 4 drivers with a tyre and fuel budget to help us complete our dreams. The car has taken more money and time than I thought it would (that’s the problem with silly ideas!), but it’s quite a nice spec car. We were aiming at class 3, but we’ve done such a good job that we are now in class 2.”
So can anyone help? Just remember: bin it on the first lap and it’s a month in detention after work. Plus 500 lines – ‘why I mustn’t try to outbrake the opposition at the first corner of a 24 hour race’…