Human Powered Vehicle Challenge - New Zealand Ministry of Youth Development

Human Powered Vehicle Challenge

The Streaks Ahead team were first past the finish line in the South Taranaki Human Powered Vehicle Challenge held in the streets of Hawera on 27 August 2006.

The Human Powered Vehicle Challenge was one of the projects selected to receive a grant from the Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) annual Youth Development Partnership Fund (YDPF).

The project, submitted by South Taranaki District Council, involved 55 South Taranaki young people designing, building, testing and finally racing human powered vehicles.

There were 11 teams of five young people who participated in the project in which each team was linked to a South Taranaki engineering firm, who provided supervised workshop access and technical guidance through a mentor.

The race was an opportunity for the young people to celebrate all of their hard work and really put their vehicles to the test.

A 500-strong vocal crowd and local media turned up to support the event. Each of the teams had a nominated captain who before the race, went up the front and talked a little bit about their experience.

“Seeing so many enthusiastic young faces, all believing their vehicle was the fastest” was the highlight for MYD Communications Advisor, Adam Kearney who attended the event.

“It was great to hear all 11 team captains telling the audience that they not only had a lot of fun building their vehicles, but they also learnt so much from participating in this project. There were some very innovative designs that showed a lot of thought and effort had gone into them,” says Adam.

Each of the vehicles were designed and built solely by the young people, with the adult mentors simply providing guidance.

The Playboy Babes (pictured) was the team that stood out the most with their bright pink vehicle and matching uniforms. Before the race, Playboy Babes team captain Courtney Myers was confident their vehicle would take out best design.

“We had no help with the actual building of the vehicle and we wanted something that stood out. The best thing for us was our team spirit,” said Courtney.

Chris Tito from The Rebels team proudly demonstrated the parts which made up their vehicle.

“This piece here is part of an old rowing machine and these pieces were simply household waste that was going to be thrown away. This has been a really cool project,” said Chris.

Project co-ordinator Jan Roberts from the Can Do Trust said the project was great for the community. “Engineering firms in the district have really got behind the project. The challenge has exposed young people to engineering and the firms have now identified potential apprentices.

“There is a belief amongst young people here that they need to leave the area and go to university to get good training opportunities, but this has identified many options for them to stay in this district.

“The hands-on practical project demonstrated the applicability of school subjects such as maths (measurement), physics (energy) and English (planning and reading technical information.

“We really appreciate all the support of the Ministry of Youth Development have given this project and know it would not have been possible without their generous funding,” says Jan.

A key objective of the YDPF is to attract and encourage young people to get involved in their communities, through inventive, youth-friendly projects that teach valuable work, life and learning skills. It goes with-out saying that the Human Powered Vehicle Challenge has achieved all of this and more.

Top of page