Care Park, Australia’s leading private car park provider, is putting its power behind Bendigo’s Eaglehawk Secondary College, sponsoring the school’s human powered vehicle entry in this year’s RACV Energy Breakthrough competition.  The sponsorship has had even more meaning and impact for Eaglehawk Secondary College as it has allowed them to recover quickly and get back on the road from the theft of their tools and equipment earlier this year.

Eaglehawk has two entries in this year’s Energy Breakthrough competition - Sub Zero and Damn! It’s Big have been entered in the HPV B2 category involving 16 students in trike maintenance, training and fundraising. This category requires teams to have an equal number of boys and girls in the team (maximum of 8 riders) from years 9 and 10. Eaglehawk Secondary College has chosen its students from years 7-10 for both its entries. Sub Zero will be entering its third year of racing, while Damn! It’s Big will be heading into its second year.

Eaglehawk Secondary College sports coordinator and RACV Breakthrough Energy coordinator Keiren Brennan says Sub Zero is the school’s flagship trike.

“Our strongest riders make up this team and we have high expectations for them to do well. Meanwhile, Damn! It’s Big is made up of nearly a full team of first time riders entering the 24 hour endurance event,” Keiren Brennan says.

The two vehicles are different to each other and have been constructed using a chromoly frame and kevlar / fibreglass composite shells.

“Countless hours have gone into modifying and maintaining the two vehicles in preparation for our main event in Maryborough. With roll overs in races and in practice there is always a bit of patching going on to make the vehicles presentable on the weekend of 23-25 November. “

A former student of Eaglehawk Secondary College has kindly donated his graffiti expertise to make sure the entries stand out in the mass of vehicles racing around in Maryborough.

Keiren Brennan says: “Care Park’s sponsorship means a lot to the Eaglehawk entries as we had our tools stolen from our shed at the start of the year which we had acquired over a number of years.   Included in this was our new $400 head light which we purchased earlier in the year to meet the lighting requirements for a 24 hour event held in Wonthaggi during March.

The sponsorship has meant that we were able to replace the tools and headlight as well as assist in the continual maintenance that goes on with this type of racing - tyres, tubes, batteries, zip ties, race tape all add up when continually being used in training and racing.”

The Eaglehawk Secondary College vehicle has participated in three races in the lead up to the event, steadily improving the endurance of their vehicle to meet the ultimate endurance 24 hour challenge to be held in Maryborough.

Care Park Managing Director Robert Belteky says he is proud to have Care Park sponsoring such innovation and technology and being at the forefront of assisting the next generation of leaders to find energy-efficient vehicle solutions for the future.

“Care Park is a community car park provider and assisting our communities and the next generation of leaders to find energy-efficient car solutions is important to Care Park and driving a better world for our future,” Mr Belteky says.