A Breakthrough Success at this Year’s Energy Breakthrough

November 29, 2024

Norwood on Show!

From Wednesday 20 to Sunday 24 November, eight of our students made the Journey across to the Energy Breakthrough in Maryborough, Victoria. This event is a school-only, education-first experience targeting students to understand and tell the story of their journey through human-powered vehicle racing (Pedal Prix). For our students, Team “Blazing Eagles” this was a culminating and final event after 5 years of involvement in the sport through the UniSA Australian HPV Super Series here in South Australia.

The eight students led by Team Captains Erika (yr 12) and Tom (yr 12) took on the challenge with their usual intensity, enthusiasm, and a touch of charisma. Joined by Ollie (yr 12), Juan (yr 12), Hyunbi (yr 12), Tamara (yr 12), Ashlin (yr 12) and Sofia (yr 11) they dedicated countless hours around their final assessments, exams, and end of year celebrations to prepare, present and perform.

Earlier this year, Erika, Hyunbi and Juan presented to the Rotary Club of St Peters around their journey and vision to attend the Energy Breakthrough. Their passion for this project was displayed brilliantly with the Club award NIHS Pedal Prix and the Blazing Eagles a $4000 grant. The Rotary Club of St Peters support enabled this enriching experience to occur at such a high level and without excessive financial contributions from students.

The event has three key stages of “assessment” which combine to produce an overall score and result. Students present, explain, and show their Design and Construction story, taking the assessors through the vehicle and the team’s understanding of and contributions to vehicle safety aspects, improvements/enhancements, and materials utilised. Vehicles then go through a collaborative scrutineering process with experienced industry professionals to ensure the vehicles are safe and meet the 2025 vehicle specifications. Our students demonstrated excellent knowledge and understanding across all elements achieving a score of 21.5 (out of 25).

The Display and Presentation component allows students to present their journey across the year through a 20-minute verbal presentation with physical aids. A key focus is on sustainability, and students being able to show evidence of their involvement, teamwork/participation, enthusiasm/effort and understanding of the project/aims of the event. This was a new concept for the students within the HPV landscape, they scored 17.5 (out of 25) and gained valuable feedback for future years around the style and depth required.

The Final Component is worth 50% of the overall score, and sees the vehicles and team tested over a 24-hour trial. This is a well-rehearsed element with the team coming into the event with over 974 Hours of racing experience collectively. The night practice session on Friday 21 November, saw hot track conditions with the ambient temperature sitting in the low 30s at 7.30PM. Tom (yr 12) got to know the track quickly over 4 laps before laying down a blistering 1:47.9 on the 1.58km track (avg speed 52.71km/h) this remained unbeaten across the 2-hour session and saw the team secure pole position for the race start on Saturday at noon.

The team awoke after a hot restless night’s sleep to hot conditions, a touch of cloud cover was providing the only relief as the morning temperature quickly surpassed 30 degrees. As the race start time loomed closer the excitement built. The students went through final checks on the vehicle to ensure the driveline, rider positioning, wheel alignment, ventilation and wheels/tyres were optimised for the conditions. 11:30AM quickly came around, and the blazing eagles assembled on the grid for the start of what proved to be an immensely challenging 24-hour experience. With temperatures nearing the mid-30s and a light wind providing some cooling relief as the rolling lap commenced, Tom (yr 12) quickly settled into his rhythm and had the Blazing Eagles comfortably in the top five. Exceptional riding through the first rotation of the rider order had the team 14 laps ahead of 2nd place in their category and overall energy levels high with rider stint times heavily managed in the extreme conditions.

As the second rotation occurred in the early evening and conditions began to cool, a lurking mechanical issue began to emerge with riders complaining of increased resistance. Tom (yr 12) could only manage 30 minutes at greatly reduced speeds, and Juan (yr 12) suffered a rear-end collision and roll before Hyunbi (yr 12) grabbed a big piece of the brakes to come to a stop in red flag conditions. This motion caused a key element of the “left upright” which connects the front wheel/brake to the chassis to let go and lock the front left brake on. Thankfully the Trump Factory Racing Spare Box was close by and with the assistance of Pembroke’s Team Manager the team had the bike back on track after 15-minutes and still maintaining a 7-lap lead. Frustrations continued as the rain began to fall, year 12 Ollie and year 11 Sofia both suffered minor rollovers in slippery and difficult conditions. This led to both needing to take a 30-minute break from riding under energy breakthrough safety guidelines and our rider order quickly being depleted. Exception and consolidating stints from our experienced year 12s Erika, Ashlin and Tamara regained the team composure with Tom then stretching his legs and bringing our lead back up to 10+ laps over Good Sheppard College in Hamilton, Victoria.

Limited on-track visibility with vehicles fogging and constant rain, was testing our rider skills and composure around 2:30AM Juan needed to stop suddenly resulting in a big lock up and an usual breakage of the right upright and brake backing plate. With the thankful assistance of some local teenagers, the trike was carried back to the pits a second upright was replaced, and the wheel alignment reset a nearly 30-minute process before the trike could return to the track. Hyunbi and Ollie then set to work rebuilding their lead which had crumbled to less than 4 laps and the team had dropped to 14th overall.

The calming influence of the parent/team manager David Watts from 3AM – 7AM was just what the team needed with a lead being rebuilt up to 14-laps. With the trike becoming exceptionally heavy to pedal once again a check of the wheel alignment resulted in the correction of 18mm toe out (ouch). Thankfully as the rain cleared and the final 3-hours of the race edged closure the team settled back into their well-trained rhythm, laying down intelligent and smooth laps. As the clock ticked down the Blazing Eagles soared back into the top ten overall, and first in their category (open mixed) by 13-laps. Managing to complete 526-laps (831km).

An amazing way to finish up the Norwood International High School Pedal Prix program for 2025. An event and trip that would not have happened without the parental support, supervision and enthusiasm of David Watts (Team Manager), Troy Flower (Team Manager) and Victoria Yurkova (Photography).

NIHS Pedal Prix is thankful for the support of our sponsors including the long-term partnership of Trump Trikes, who continue to provide and support us with safe, fast and durable trikes that prove their worth every race. This combined with Jason’s constant service and driven attitude is welcomed and appreciated every year. People Choice has continued to support the team through its second year, both as a sponsor and through access to its Community Lottery. Well team came aboard late this year as a vehicle sponsor and has continued their support through EB providing sponsorship.

This event and experience for the students was unique as we teamed up with our SA rival Pembroke School. Combining logistics, trailers and our pit area allowed for a smooth experience for the staff involved while allowing our competitive friendship to grow through teamwork and shared experience. A big thanks to Jason Lentakis, the Pembroke students and staff for their camaraderie and assistance across the weekend.

1300km of travel, 4 days, 26 hours of racing, 872km ridden and hundreds of hours of preparation.

Energy Breakthrough 2024 was a first for Norwood International High School.

We would love to see you all involved in the Pedal Prix in 2024.

Please Register via Trybooking