Apprentices race ahead with sporty kit car

A recent article published in the Airbus UK magazine gives an update of the Caterham car challenge and an insight to the young apprentices who are involved in the project:

"Four Airbus employees have changed into top gear to build a £16,000 Caterham two-seat sports car.

The super 7 model, which has a top speed of more than 110mph, was presented to Airbus in kit form by the Hyde Engineering Group – one of the company’s key suppliers.

In a unique partnership that also involves Deeside College, the six-month project to assemble the car will help the Airbus apprentices put engineering theory into practice.

“It’s a great project as not everyone gets to build a car from scratch.” Dave Jones.

The car will benefit Hyde graduate engineers, who will make replica parts out of composite materials, before being sold by auction to raise funds for charity challenge,

The kit car has a 130hp 16-valve engine and will take about 100 hours to assemble, leading the build are Dave Stones, who has just completed his three year vehicle maintenance apprenticeship at Broughton, and colleague Gafyn Denman, a third year apprentice.

Helping them are second year higher engineering apprentice Daniel Griffiths and Sam Edwards, a third year aircraft fitter. Dave said “It’s a great project as not everyone gets to build a car from scratch. I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel.”

The car is being assembled in the vehicle workshop at Braughton and supervised by maintenance manager Dom Tyson, whose brother, Nick, is head of the engineering faculty at Deeside College, where Airbus and Hyde apprentices are trained.

Dom said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our young apprentices and, at the same time, underpins the skills they need to gain their NVQ Level 3 qualification. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved as Airbus, Hyde and Deeside College all benefit”."

Apprentices race ahead with sporty kit car

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