WINNERS of the recent 1995 Fun Science Competition had no academic honours nor technical training to brag about. But creativity and diligent experimenting was their key.
The contestants, all secondary students, made 77 'rubber band-powered vehicles' which were tested on four increasingly steep wooden planks to see which ran the longest distance at the Hong Kong Baptist University's Wai Hang Sports Centre.
The contest was divided into the Open and Environmentally Friendly sections. The latter allowed participants to use only paper, wood and adhesive to construct the vehicles.
'There were some superior designs although we have chosen a highly difficult topic this time in order to raise the standard,' said one organising representative, Dr Fang Ming, technical programme manager at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's research centre.
The most outstanding vehicle came from Form Seven student Cheung Kwong-shing's team at Sha Tin Methodist College. They won the Environmentally Friendly section and won the category's Best Workmanship Award.
Kwong-shing worked with schoolmates Law Lap-keung and Tang Ka-kit to produce a vehicle that managed to run the longest, the steadiest and straightest.