Horses, Students, & Wheeler Engineering

Students mid-way through a chariot race. (Kavita Kar)
Ready, set, go, the bi-annual Engineering chariot race starts! Students (in lieu of horses) begin dashing with all their might around the Wheeler track. The Wheeler Engineering Department, headed by Mr. Mars Berwanger, conducts chariot races to start the semester. Students in level two and three classes were tasked with building and racing a horse-drawn chariot to outcompete their peers. According to Mr. Berwanger, the Chariots had three criteria “1) safe for the people, 2) safe for the horses, and 3) safe to the track” Chariots were scored based on their resemblance to horses, their safety, as well as their time around the track.

Students were asked to use materials found in the classroom and were given the time constraint of three days. Some designs pushed the boundaries of engineering. When asked about the design of the chariot, Will Kramer (11) “we started designing the chariot by researching past designs.”His teammate, Hawthorne Brown (11) discussed, “we were drawing inspiration from the litter [a medieval means of transport for kings].” They went on to design their chariot using wooden planks and a common classroom chair. Their team was the only team that opted not to use wheels in the design of the chariot, placing a much greater burden on the horses themselves. Another chariot opted to recycle a child’s defunct motorbike with wiring to connect it to Graeme Flaherty (10) designed this chariot, and when asked about inspiration, he responded that he “saw the motorcycle as an opportunity which sparked his creativity.”

Team Winnie-the-Pooh-Mobile posing before their race.