March 27, 2014 News Business improvement solutions provider SMMT Industry Forum is partnering up with the JCB Academy on an exciting engineering challenge for students. Taking place at Industry Forum’s Birmingham offices on Tuesday 8 April, the Automotive Challenge will see 36 JCB Academy students design, build and launch a 1:6 scale vehicle made from a selected range of materials and components. The vehicles will then undertake a series of tests, demonstrating their acceleration and deceleration, handling ability, energy efficiency, ride, luggage space, occupant comfort and safety. The students, in teams of four, will ‘launch’ their vehicles to a panel of judges including SMMT Industry Forum Chairman [Mike Baunton] as well as representatives from JCB Academy and CAT. The Automotive Challenge runs alongside the students’ current coursework on Innovation, Enterprise and Technological Advance which is part of an OCR Level 2 Principal Learning qualification, and can be used by the students as part of their submitted course work towards their GCSE. The day itself will run from 10.30am until 3.30pm with the winning team presented with a trophy and individual plaques.
