Serena Kirby, Denmark Bulletin
Denmark Senior High School will be the first school in the Great Southern to enter a team in this year’s Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series.
This nationwide series of races, also known as the Pedal Prix, comprises six rounds of races with five held in South Australia and one in Busselton.
Schools from all over Australia have entered teams and there will be an estimated 60 teams competing in the WA event.
Denmark Senior High School’s new physics and science teacher Ben Garnaut has been involved in the event for several years at his previous schools and wasted no time in gathering a team for this year’s event.
He said a group of 15 students from various year levels would make up the team with drivers (pedalers) swapping in and out over the course of the race.
Some students will act as pit crew and back up support during the six-hour race that is conducted around a closed circuit.
The number of circuit laps completed in the six hours decides the winner.
Ben said that special vehicles were required for the race that fit the strict entry guidelines and he had gained a $13,000 sports grant to have a vehicle custom built.
Vehicles are made from carbon fibre and aluminium and must be single seat recumbents with three or more load-bearing wheels and be solely human powered.
Steering of the vehicle is via oppositional levers at each side of the driver’s waist.
The students were using a training vehicle donated by Perth Modern School while their car was being built in Adelaide.
The team will see and use their custom-built vehicle for the first time at the Busselton race where it’s being transported to WA by a South Australian team.
The high school’s team has been appropriately named, Blue Wren Racing, and Ben said that the aim this year would be to complete the six-hour race, as it was both challenging and gruelling.
Ben hopes to then apply for an additional grant to secure a second vehicle and create a racing culture at the school.
“The students learn a lot of different skills by being a part of this,” he said.
“They learn to work as a team, to problem solve and open up their communication with each other so it helps to develop self-confidence.”
The Busselton HPV race will be on August 20 and Ben hopes there will be a good number of Denmark locals coming along to support the Blue Wren Racing team.
See all the pics in the issue.
This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 15 June 2023.
