Institution of Engineering Designers Promotion of Design Award

We are delighted to announce that the White Horse Soapbox Derby were awarded the Promotion of Design Award for 2024 for bringing together the wider community of Westbury and showcasing STEM to the local school children.
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Institution of Engineering Designers Promotion of Design Award

The Institution of Engineering Designers Promotion of Design Award was introduced in 2009 to award an individual or team for their work in promoting engineering design to a wider audience.

The awards ceremony took place on Saturday 13 July 2024 at the RNLI College in Poole. Ryan and his wife were invited along on the day to receive the award in person.

The IED has been lucky enough to be involved in the Soapbox Derby since it’s inception in 2021 when Ryan first suggested the slightly bonkers idea of racing homemade go carts down the face of an ancient scheduled monument – bringing the joy and spectacle of engineering to the people of Westbury and in particular the younger members of the community.

We would like to congratulate them on being worthy winners and look forward to working with them in the future.

Westbury Town Council have worked with a number of organisations to develop and roll out engineering workshops, with Gold Sponsor, Arke Ltd a major contributor since the event’s conception.

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Soapbox Cart Workshops

Youth Club Members learn the basics of Brief, Design, Build. Supported by sponsors Arke Ltd and White Horse CAD, as well as Wiltshire Council's F.U.E.L Programs.

Westbury Town Council ran workshops over a four day period to teach young people the STEM building principles. The children, ranging from 9 to 15 years old, were given a design brief. Build a drag race track for elastic powered cars of a certain size. Then they had to come up with a plan that fitted the brief limitations. Thinking creatively to come up with, what were in the end, radically different designs.

The teams were given cardboard boxes, loads of tape, supported by volunteer engineer Shona Allman from White Horse Soapbox Derby sponsor Arke LTD. Engineers from the Stem Ambassador program also came in to offer their expertise through the week.

Two teams of students worked away to create their ramps, testing, failing and testing again until they had a ramp capable of hosting a downhill drag race between two elastic powered cars. Then it was time to make the cars and get racing.

White Horse CAD supported the event with high spec CAD drawings for the students to use.

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Institution of Engineering Designers Promotion of Design Award