- Team Name.
Wombat Warriors
- Explain how you chose your team name.
Initially we called ourselves the Combat Wombats – Wombats was chosen as it is a rascal like mini bear that can be very playful, surprisingly fast for its shape and a very, very tough Australian animal that kills its predators by squashing them with their butt! We chose the Combat part because we wanted to be known for putting up a fight no matter what happens during the competitions. We later changed the name into Wombat Warriors to honour the ANZAC spirit during the 100th commemorative year.
- Country(s) represented.
Australia
- School(s) represented.
Pine Rivers State High School
- Town of School(s).
Strathpine, QLD
- Number of males / Number of females on team.
5 males & 1 female
- Link to team Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/wombatwarriors/
- Team Twitter handle
https://twitter.com/WarriorsWombat
- Link to team website.
http://www.4x4wombatwarriors.com
- Briefly outline the history of your team.
Our team was formed as a group of 5 Y10 students in 2015. We started by entering our first competition as a beginner class team and we made some basic modifications the basic Slick Rock 4×4 that was supplied to us by our teacher. After winning the National Titles in Australia, were invited to attend the first ever World Finals in 2015. It was the most amazing experience to build a new vehicle from scratch, travel to the other side of the world and compete against other schools from all over the world. At the World Finals last year, we have had some real mixed successes, with our 4×4 builds not quite meeting our desired functionality and yet still doing well and making it to third place on the podium. It was a life changing event. Once the dust settled from the excitement of the world finals it was a big decision to try again. Two of our team members decided to drop out and we recruited a couple of younger team members as we were really struggling with the juggle of being seniors at school and all that is required in preparing for the competition. This struggle became very real as we also mentored a beginner team to our 2016 National finals and then only just managed to defend our Australian Champion Title from them and Zircon. This year at the world finals we are a team of 4 x Y11 students, 1 x Y10 student and 1 x Y9 student. We are super hopeful that all our hard work in balancing all of our commitments will pay off and that all of our project will all come together. Maybe we might even be able to go one or two places better than our last visit.
- Land Rover 4×4 in Schools achievements so far (i.e. Nat champions, other awards etc.)
2016 Australian National Final
- National Champions
2015 World Final
- 3rd Overall
- Lily – Best Women in Engineering
- Best Team Marketing
2015 Australian National Final
- National Champions
- Best Engineered Design
- Best Track Performance
- Best Team Pit Display
- Best Team Portfolio
- Describe your team in 3 words
Determined, Friendly & Fun
- What do you think makes your World Final team unique from other teams?
Our team image… we are the Wombats!
- Magic moment – what has been the most exciting Land Rover 4×4 in Schools experience your team has had so far?
There have been so many. It has to be being able to represent your country – it is such an honour and one we are so thankful to our parents, school, local community, Re-Engineering Australia and Land Rover for making it all possible.
- We can laugh now – tell us about one of your team’s funniest moments, maybe it wasn’t so funny at the time!.
Australian National Finals 2016 – after all our hard work and a totally new direction with our truck, it could not even drive up the first obstacle. We had designed our truck to suit the type of track we used at the world finals, but this track had dirt, mud, rocks, water crossings and some very slippery ramps that our tires and gearing simply could not climb. We failed big time and can only but laugh at that now.
- What is the biggest challenge in this competition?
Balancing the project with school work
- What are you most looking forward to at the World Finals?
Meeting the other teams and seeing what they have created to compete with and making new friends
- What are your expectations for the World Finals?
We really want to win, but if we do not, that is ok, we know we have done our very best, so we will be happy with whatever position we end up in. Most of all we really want to soak up the experience and have fun meeting new people, making new friends and seeing some amazing things.
