RICHLAND, Wash. – Engineering students from Washington State University Tri-Cities will test go-karts they designed and built at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at the Tri-City Raceway track in West Richland. Set-up will start at noon. Admission is free to the public.
“This is the culmination of our years of schooling,” said Jarrett Rice, mechanical engineering student and go-kart engineering design coordinator. “Students apply the fundamentals of engineering to solve problems encountered along the way, and we also learn the invaluable soft skills that can be applied in industry.
The 24 mechanical engineering and 14 electrical engineering students formed two teams for the annual project.
“With a tremendous number of hours put into each go-kart, the teams are anxious to battle it out,” Rice said.
The two modified go-karts will compete in several elements, including an obstacle course with a water gun range, a barrier crossing with a mechanical device, and remote control operation of the entire kart.
“This gave the students a sense of how an engineering project comes together, from a detailed drawing to fabrication,” instructor Rick Cameron said, adding that the project also emphasizes safety and how to analyze stress points in the design.
The competition is sponsored in part by the Sage & Sand Sports Car Club, which assisted with race logistics and insurance.
The Tri-City Raceway is along Highway 224/Van Giesen between West Richland and Benton City.
Learn more about WSU Tri-Cities — the most diverse campus in the WSU system — at http://www.tricity.wsu.edu.
Contacts:
Jarrett Rice, student go-kart engineering design coordinator, WSU Tri-Cities, Jarrett.rice@gmail.com, cell 509-851-4238
Rick Cameron, engineering instructor, WSU Tri-Cities, cell 509-619-4292, camerondesign23@gmail.com
Melissa O’Neil Perdue, WSU Tri-Cities Marketing and Communications manager, 509-372-7319, cell 509-727-3094, moneil@tricity.wsu.edu