COMPETING in the advanced category against teams from other colleges, one of the four QMC teams won the prize for the best portfolio in this year’s Rotary Technology Tournament, cataloguing the development of their design ideas, the technical challenges they had to overcome and how the team had worked together to settle on and build their final design.

Following many successes in the tournament in previous years, this was the first year that QMC teams were made up entirely of first years, so none had any experience of competing before in the event.

The challenge this year was to build a vehicle with a crane to retrieve dangerous chemicals from a train which had derailed.

Their machine had to pass under a bridge and then raise the crane arm by means of an electric motor, to lift the container of chemicals clear of the train, before then ducking under the bridge again as it returned to its starting place.

All four teams produced very different designs, two requiring a helping hand at the testing stage to overcome technical difficulties, the other two performing the task brilliantly.

The competition is an annual event run by engineers from the Rotary Club, with prizes presented by the mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Councillor Sean Keating. 

The winning team; Amy Aufiero, Tom Ayre, Harley Makepeace and Sean Loxley, are pictured with their certificates and trophy.

Another QMC team of aspiring young engineers took the overall prize for the best design, their vehicle performing the task flawlessly.

Ethan Barber, Alex James, Joe Molloy and Ed Lacey, also pictured, were considered worthy winners by the judges.

All of the teams enjoyed working collaboratively and demonstrated excellent problem-solving skills: two of the attributes most prized by employers.

Head of mathematics David Smith said: “I am very proud of each of the teams and the students have a fantastic experience to cherish, working alongside professional engineers and managing to produce a working prototype in just a few hours. Inspiring stuff.”