UC students on a roll

Published by the Communications and Development Department

 

2 November 2004

 

The University of Canterbury 's chemical and process engineering students have, for the second time in three years, won the Australasian Chem-E-Car championship title.

 

Chem-E-Car competitions involve students in the design and construction of a model car powered by a chemical energy source that will carry a load a given distance and stop. They test students' ability to harness and control a chemical reaction and the winner is the team that can get its car to stop on or closest to the finish line.

 

At Canterbury University , chem-e-cars are part of every second professional year student's design project.

 

The UC team of David Walker, Aidan Lee, Amir Zamberi and Nick Moleta went to Sydney to compete at the CHEMECA Conference after winning the Canterbury competition.

 

Senior lecturer Ian Gilmour was excited to see Canterbury “do it again” amidst impressive competition from five Australian university teams.

 

“CAPENZ26 almost broke the CAPENZ2 world record with an earth-shattering run to within 3cm of the 20m target to claim an unbeatable performance,” Mr Gilmour says.

 

CAPENZ26 captain David Walker says the scrap metal construction had to undergo repairs after its main shaft snapped in transit on the plane to the Australian event, but his team did well to “battle through to win despite the odds”.

 

He hopes the team's title-winning wheels will hold up for a further long-haul flight next July, as they have been invited to take part in a chem-e-car competition as part of the 2005 World Congress of Chemical Engineering in Glasgow .

 

 

For further information please contact:

John MacDonald

Communications Manager

University of Canterbury

Tel: +64-3-364 2910

Fax: +64-3-364 2679

Mob: +64-27-441 7280

john.macdonald@canterbury.ac.nz