Downhill Racing

In unit one of design tech, year 7 students like us work on a downhill racer project, although it is not really a race, students have to build a car that will go further than anyone else's.

They start with a sheet of paper and fold it in half, then they take some scissors and cut a unique path around their fingers holding the paper

They then trace out their design on to a sheet of white corflute, and cut it out. Now they move on to something a little more tricky.

The students then start to make the wheel and axle assembly. They start off by getting a very small piece of plastic tubing, then pushing the axle through the middle of the plastic tubing. Now, it's time for the wheel.

They pick out the fastest spinning wheels and put them on the axle, then put another piece of plastic tube to stop the wheel from falling off.

They repeat this for the back side and now it's time to do the fun stuff!

For the decoration process, the students use scrap bits of wood to improve their racer and make it look the best! They use the hot glue gun to stick it on.

As well as practical work, the students also have to do an online design worksheet. They record all of their data on it and show all of the steps that went into making it. It’s all testing now, they test the design, change it every time, and test again, and record what happened in their journal.

Now, it's race time

By Alex Brown, Jonty Allan and Max Adam