A group of high school early leavers have powered up their potential to bring home several trophies from the Grass Kart Challenge, using machines they designed and built. As part of the Government’s youth guarantee initiative, 21 students from the certificate in automotive and mechanical engineering course at Otago Polytechnic banded together to design four grass karts to enter in the grass kart challenge. Held annually, the event is aimed at increasing participation in engineering and technical subjects by challenging students to design and build their own grass karts. Otago Polytechnic mechanical engineering and trades lecturer Stuart Hewson said the students were challenged to produce their own grass or go-kart using the same specifications. Otago Polytechnic engineering senior lecturer Nick Moss said each of the teams produced four styles of vehicle and yet still managed to meet the grass kart challenge criteria.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 20, 2017 17:29 UTC