Engineering students tackle concrete toboggan design competition

A team from Memorial, including mechanical and civil engineering students, competed in the annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) 2023 in Kelowna, B.C. this past February.

The GNCTR is the oldest and largest student-run engineering competition in Canada, challenging more than 450 engineering students to design, build, and safely race toboggans with a running surface made entirely of concrete.

Competing teams are tasked with designing and building a toboggan with steering, braking and capable of carrying five people down a hill. The concrete skis, metal roll cage and the steering and braking systems must all weigh less than 350 lbs.

Toboggans are judged on design, level of ingenuity and innovation and how well it performs on race day.

The team from Memorial placed high in several categories, including third overall in the main racing event, King of the Hill, out of 12 competing teams. Other third-place finishes include the braking category for having the third shortest stopping distance and for ski reinforcement.

The team placed second in the Aestheticallypleasing Toboggan competition, fifth out of 15 teams for their steering design and had the fourth fastest overall run with a top speed of 45 kilometres per hour. ■■■