With speeds clocking in at an incredible 157 kilometres per hour, it’s no wonder around 650 students and teachers crammed into Anderson elementary’s gymnasium.
The annual Co2 Dragster Races were hosted by the school’s Grade 7 Division 1 students last week.
And in the 17 years the school has been running the event — which is the culmination of the students’ Applied Skills, Design, and Technology program — no one has managed to record 157 km/h, which was reached during race rehearsals, with 135 km/h hit during the actual races.
“Our races were one of the coolest events I have ever seen in my career,” said Grade 7 teacher Glyn Davies. “(It’s) so incredible what can be done by kids.”
In the words of one of the students, Mamie, the race was at the end of a “long and exciting process of creating the balsa wood dragster cars.”
“To begin this process, we started off with generating ideas and drawings using our creative imagination.
“We drew the outline of our dragster on the wood, which was soon cut out.”
After sanding their designs and then priming and painting them, wheels, axles and licence plates were added to the cars.
During the race itself, there is no shortage of help, with a pit crew, mechanics, announcers and even security.
“The assembly is forever more one of the greatest assemblies in the history of Anderson school,” added Cierra, another Grade 7 student.
