Lunar Racing - Education Through Motorsport

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A little bit about the team
Lunar Racing works with 14-16 year olds to give them the skills they need to become successful adults. Lunar Racing is not an after-school club or a simulated motorsport activity. Lunar Racing is a central part of the teaching of recognized qualifications.
Lunar Racing is a non-profit making racing team which competes in professional motorsport. We build, develop and maintain real cars. The only difference between Lunar Racing and any other racing team is that the team members are school children.
There is no other education initiative which puts school students in real world situations. The end results are school leavers who are 100% dependable.

What we are doing in 2009
For 2009, Lunar Racing is fielding two cars in the MG Car Club Peter Best Insurance Challenge and one car in the televised Britcar Production S1 Championship. We are working in three regions of the UK and assisting schools with the planning and teaching of the new Engineering Diploma, GCSE Engineering, GCSE Science and Level 1 motor vehicle repair.

Why Lunar Racing?
At Lunar Racing we believe that the modern exam-based education system fails our children. The emphasis of education has moved away from the student and on to the school and its teachers. Schools must now achieve their target A*-C percentage at all costs. This has resulted in teachers doing the work for their students and students being used as tools to improve the schools’ standing in league tables. This has resulted in many students becoming disillusioned with education. I’ve yet to meet a toddler who isn’t full of questions and thirsty for knowledge, but this attitude is usually destroyed by the time I get to teach them.
In addition to this, schools have been pushed into taking an ‘industry’ style approach to organizing themselves. As a teacher I have regularly had conversations about ‘funding units’ (your children). It got to point where I had to do something; Lunar Racing became my way of trying to make a difference. With Lunar Racing, students gain recognized qualifications (NVQ/BTEC Light Vehicle Repair, GCSE Engineering) and develop a work ethic to make them infinitely more employable than your average school leaver.
No other education initiative comes close. (Paul Kneeshaw Lunar Racing)

What have we been upto in the closed season
I suppose that this is where the LR1 ends and the LR1a starts. The roll cage modifications are complete and the car’s weight loss has begun. The aim is a lighter and stiffer shell. The dampers have been sent off to GAZ to be upgraded to double adjustable, and when matched to the new Eibach springs should greatly improve the already excellent handling of the car. The engine and gearbox developments will also fit in perfectly with the new engineering diploma which we are helping Middleton Technology School, near Manchester, to deliver.

The black mk1 ZS is also being stripped down to make a number of repairs and improvements for next season. The first thing that the students will be doing is replacing the rear end. First we’ll get it as straight as we can, then replace the boot floor, rear quarter panel and rear panel. We may also replace the rear offside chassis leg.

Both cars will be repainted in new team colours for 2009.

If you would like to get involved with sponsoring the project please drop me a line on email address below.




If you would like further information on the project or a press pack please contact Peter Burchill
peterburchill@aol.com
07772 222 064