The Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race is an annual engineering competition where students meet to display their engineering ingenuity, creativity, innovation and spirit. Each year approximately 500 engineering students representing 25 teams travel from across Canada to compete against fellow students from other Universities.
Team Carleton brought home two technical awards from this year’s competition, hosted in Wakefield, Quebec. After competing in the slalom, drag race and king of hill race, team Carleton was awarded prizes for Best Concrete Mix Design and Most Sustainable Team.
As per competition rules, teams must design, construct, and race a toboggan with a running surface made from a Portland cement based concrete. To increase the challenge of the event, each team must respect specific design constraints, including a maximum toboggan weight of 300lbs, space to transport five people, a working braking system, a safety roll-cage and a steering system. Teams are judged at the competition based on their race time, braking distance, team spirit, written and oral presentations, technical exhibition, and concrete mix.
Carleton has been competing in the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race since 1995 and has seen tremendous success. The team is traditionally composed of engineering students whom enjoy the practical aspect of engineering as well as the nature of competition.
Since its inception in 1974, the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race has grown to include universities and technical institutions from across Canada, the United States and Europe.
Carleton’s team is looking forward to improving their design yet again for next year’s competition in Winnipeg.
