Boys and their toys – team scoops honours
DURBAN brought home top honours this week when two teams of petrol heads from Eden Primary School in Glenwood took first and second positions at the national Jaguar Primary School Challenge in Pretoria on Wednesday night.
The winners, X-Team Racers Syun Bhaga, 12, Keshav Hurpaul, 11, Dipika Ramjugernath, 11, and Vongai Mubaiwa, 9, were in a jubilant mood yesterday. As was the Fast Intelligence team, Karuna Rungan, 12, Diya Shah, 12, Mikhail Karrim, 11 and Veyakhar Pather, 11, who were literally pipped at the post by a point in the final.
The challenge saw more than 5 000 primary pupils who are passionate about science and technology enter, with over 100 schools competing.
Each team has to design a miniature car, which races over 25m at an average of one second, with strict specifications applying to the models.
Both teams worked non-stop with team leader, Syun, saying working together had ensured their success.
“When the winners were announced it was very exciting. We barely slept for two weeks preparing, but it was worth it. “We learned so many theories such as Newton’s Second Law.”
Pressure
His teammate, Keshav, who was the design engineer, said they all felt the “extreme pressure” at the finals.
“We managed to increase the speed of our model by 23% since we qualified for the regionals. We had to change sharp angles to curves and the front nose was changed to a teardrop shape.
“We also shaved plastic off the wheels and used aluminium axles, which made it much lighter,” said Hurpaul.
Mubaiwa, who is in Grade 5, was the team’s manufacturing engineer and responsible for many of the calculations. He said “there is no I in team”, when asked how he felt about the win, while graphic designer for the team, Dipika, said: “When we put our heads together, we came up with some amazing things.”
Supporting and guiding the team through many months of design, Stephen Mack said he was very proud of both the teams who had gone through “blood, sweat and tears” to secure the top two places.
“It did not only involve the design of the cars, but the teams were also required to give a verbal presentation, design a portfolio, including a pit stop as well as fund-raising so they could travel to the competition. So it not only includes a number of subjects, but also skills such as correct attitude, inner strength and perseverance,” said Mack.
“They spent hours and hours preparing as well as maintaining a high academic standard in their school work.”
Each member had to be a team player and display character, motivation and an ability for hard work, Mack added.
The X-Team Racers’ miniature race car was named “uMbani”, which means lightning in Zulu.
RS Components head of marketing, Mellisa Naidoo, who awarded the winners with Pi-Top computers, said: “We have been privileged to have been part of initiatives such as this. These students are our future scientists, engineers and business leaders who will shape the world of tomorrow.”