The sun is shining, tennis and cricket is being played and the school holidays are moving into their final few weeks. The Energy Breakthrough Planning Committee would like to wish all visitors to this website the very best for 2006, as we endeavour to improve the online content and interactivity.

An early start

Unexpectedly, I recieved a phone call a couple of days ago from Staughton College, the crew who commandingly took out the Hybrid 1 B/C category and line honours on the Hybrid circuit in 2005. “We returned back to the college and the students who participated were just ‘full of beans'” Team Manager Shane Panczel said. “In fact the whole college has taken notice and the whole project has just exploded – from 8 students last year to over 60 for this year – it’s going to be huge!” Shane said the vehicle which completed 663 laps of the Holden track in 2005 had been evaluated, stripped and rebuilt over the Christmas holidays. “The kids are so excited and working so hard on this project and I anticipate a very busy run up to EB06.”

06 Features:

Shane and his team will be providing Hybrid related articles throughout the year to the RACV Energy Breakthrough’s website, covering issues such as cost, material selection, canopy design and construction and team development.

Daryl King from Bendigo Youth Racing will also be providing feature articles throughout the year relating to the construction and management of Human Powered Vehicles (HPVs).

Entries

Entries for EB06 open when the Handbook CDs are mailed out in mid-February. Whilst many of the categories do fill up very quickly, we’d like to encourage teams to fully consider whether they will make it to the start line in Maryborough in November. 2005 saw a total of 45 entries withdraw from across all of the categories and whilst the event was still energised and near capacity it is uncomforable for schools to bounce from Waiting List into the event.

All content from the CD will be available through the website, including Entry Forms.

Wonthaggi

The first event of 2006 is gearing up to be a special affair with a number of teams from the RACV Energy Breakthrough heading to Wonthaggi for the February 24-26 event. The tight and technical course always proves a challenge to teams of all experience levels.

Events in ’06

There are a total of ten HPV and Hybrid events in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania in 2006 – an indication of the ever expanding sport across Australia. Check out the 2006 Calendar to learn more about each of the events and link to their websites.

– Nigel Preston

RACV EB Online Manager