Most high school classes involve students sitting at their desks, taking notes for seventy minutes, but not Engineering Projects. This course, taught by Mr. Gallant, allows students to experience hands-on learning, creating deliverables to be proud of. This course curriculum is composed around the national ten80 racing competition. Students divide themselves into two teams per class period, give the group identity, and then tackle the many tasks required for eligibility to this competition. This year Mr. Gallant is expecting big things from a particular group. He says, “[Cluck-Cluck Racing] will finish in the top three at this year’s finals.” 

Building racing cars from scratch, constructing aerodynamic car bodies, and creating enterprise proposals are just some of Cluck-Cluck-Racing Club’s tasks. Composed of Seniors from the D-block Engineering Projects class, CCRC is a team that has come to play. Most CCRC was a part of Coastal Cruisers Racing Club, the Engineering Project Class last year, so the team is shooting for high placements at this year’s ten80 racing competition. Alex Barlow, a non-veteran engineer, says, “The guys from last year are really on top of things. As a new member, I am already part of the Cluck-Cluck family.”

To accomplish the required tasks, Toby Adams, the team leader, decided to split CCRC into five groups: enterprise, aerodynamic body design, car engineering, and graphic design. Alex Barlow, Luca Harlow-Rivers, and I use Solidworks, CAD software, to design and create an Aerodynamic car body. The group creates a car body in the software, runs a flow simulation on that car body to observe vulnerabilities, creates a new car body in the software that reflects the changes, shaves a block of wood into the shape of their design, and makes a plastic car body off of the block of wood. It is an extensive process! The enterprise group members are Jeremy and Elliot. The enterprise group’s initiative is to persuade companies to sponsor us and spread the team’s influence through elevator pitches, three-minute promotional videos, and “hype videos.” Graphic design has a prodigy this year: Keith Townsend. Keith, a lover of art, was able to craft a team logo that he believed captured the truth of Cluck-Cluck Racing Club: A cartoon chicken flexing its arms, racing controller in hand. Led by veteran-engineer Mark Norris, Cluck-Cluck is creating three cars: a racing car, a backup racing car, and a drag car. Chipping in to make this happen are Matt McGowan, Patrick Restuccia, Brian Milano, Peter Bauman, and Adam Colletti. Most of these engineers were on the Coastal Cruisers roster, so they are very confident about the future. “We will do very well this year,” comments CCRC team captain Toby Adams. “We are looking at the possibility of a top three placement in the racing events.”

Since the Cluck Cluck Racing Club is still youthful, the team still has much to accomplish before reaching their primary goal: a top-three placement at the ten80 racing competition at a to-be-determined location. With loads of enterprise, an aerodynamic body to be created, and fast cars to be crafted, the team has a lot on its plate. But team leader Toby Adams is not too worried about getting this work done, saying, “These guys want to win. [what separates us from the rest of the teams is that] we want to win more.” Don’t be surprised if you see the trophy case in the front lobby full after the national ten80 racing finals.

These guys are the team to beat!