Nick Herbert praises electric car race at Goodwood

Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert has praised a local event which has seen young people from across the country competing in a race with electric cars they had designed and built themselves.

Mr Herbert joined Goodwood owner Lord March to start the Formula 24 National Final at the Motor Circuit on Sunday 18 October.

The event brought together the top 75 teams - out of 184 teams that competed in Formula 24 this year - for a four hour endurance race designed to test the participants' skills in engineering, teamwork, organisation and communication.

The competition, aimed at young people aged between 9 and 25, is managed by Littlehampton-based Greenpower who held the first national final in 1999. 

Since then, it has expanded from being a 22-car secondary school event to a nationwide project holding the Goblin Formula series for primary school children, the original Formula 24 for secondary schools and the new Formula 24+ for teams aged 16 to 21 and in any form of full or part-time education.

Greenpower hopes that the project will encourage more young people to get involved in engineering and move into a career in the industry.

Nick Herbert commented: "I can't praise Greenpower highly enough for organising this event.  It was tremendous to see young people from schools across the country taking part.  Not only does it build their teamwork skills, but I hope that it will encourage young people to get involved in engineering and move into a career in the industry. 

"We desperately need more young people to go into technology and engineering.  And we also need to promote ‘green' forms of power.

"The young people taking part in Greenpower were intensely serious about the challenge, but they were also really enjoying themselves.  This fantastic initiative shows that the green agenda needn't be dull or punitive - it can be rewarding, too."

Ends

Notes for Editors

1. For more information on the event, visit http://www.greenpower.co.uk/about/.