Their story, in their words…
Everybody in our group has always had an interest in engineering, so when the Mark Evison group came to our school, the 3 of us decided to pursue our interests in engineering further by building a go kart. An electric go kart had previously been built in our school, however we decided we would build a petrol powered go kart.
The project was immensely challenging for all of us, as, although most of our group had studied DT at GCSE, the process of designing a robust go kart in coordination with others, that was feasible to build, was an entirely new experience to all of us. We started by using a modelling programme to create the go kart, with each person in our group focusing on different aspects of it. In hindsight, there were many things we could have improved upon, and this process has given us all significant insight into the processes of design.
As most of our kart is made of steel and other metals, we all had to learn various methods of metal work, including welding and using various power tools. This was the most challenging part of the process, as none of us were familiar with using welding tools, yet we had to make sure that every part of the go kart was accurately measured and cut, to prevent any problems. Throughout the process, we encountered various problems; the rear wheels wouldn’t fit onto the axle due to a design flaw, and the design for the steering mechanism had to be amended. Our group managed to overcome the problems, and it was extremely rewarding to see the go kart slowly come together after all the work we had put into it. Attaching the rear axle of the go kart (including the brakes) and the engine required the most precision and care due to the possible safety issues, but this was also one of the most interesting aspects of the project, as we got to understand in great detail the workings of a petrol engine and disc brakes – which are also used on cars.
Not wanting to part ways with our project, we sold our go kart back to the school, where it can be used to further the learning of DT students, and fund raise for the Mark Evison foundation and our school during the summer fayres.
We all feel that we have gained a great deal of knowledge and experience from this project. Being able to design and build our very own project we had complete responsibility for was a daunting task, but a greatly rewarding one, in which we improved our time and resource management skills, and got to experience the process of bringing a complex product from design to construction ourselves.
