Bangladeshi Students’ Association
University of Toronto Concrete Toboggan Team
We create a new toboggan yearly with a concrete running surface. We compete in the annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race, oldest engineering competition in Canada, against Canadian undergraduate schools. We earned first place overall at this year’s competition and hope to continue this success. We host meetings to design and build the toboggan open to all students where they can learn and develop hands-on engineering skills, and social events to build team spirit.
Key accomplishments
Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race - This past January, 30 members of the team brought a newly designed and constructed toboggan to the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR) in Montreal, competing against 17 other Canadian universities. The team placed first overall, and received awards for Best Performing Toboggan, 2nd Best Ski Geometric Profile, and 3rd Best Superstructure Design. Thanks to our victory, team members are highly motivated to continue innovating our design. This coming year, the team will be designing and building a new toboggan with an increased focus on sustainability, and hope to continue our past success.
Concrete Pours - The concrete subteam designed and tested four different concrete mixes this year for our skis, including mixes using geopolymer concrete, a sustainable alternative to traditional Portland cement. We hosted 1-2 concrete pours and testing sessions every month in the Fall semester open to all students, giving them an opportunity to learn how to mix, pour, and test concrete. The team plans to further develop our geopolymer concrete mixes in the coming year, aiming to use them in our final ski design to greatly improve sustainability.
Fibe Monocoque Shell Design - The superstructure subteam developed a full carbon fibre monocoque shell design, replacing the traditional chassis structure with embedded aluminum attachment points. Throughout the fall semester and January, we hosted over 20 work sessions to teach students how to create a foam mold and layup carbon fibre to build a light, strong, and aerodynamic shell. This innovation reduced overall toboggan weight by over 10%, allowing for a lighter and faster design.
CPSIF funding impact
The University of Toronto Concrete Toboggan Team is incredibly grateful for the support our team receives from CPSIF. This year’s support directly correlated to the team’s success at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race (GNCTR). We earned First Place Overall, and awards for Best Performing Toboggan, 2nd Best Geometric Profile, 2nd Fastest Toboggan, and 3rd Best Superstructure Design. The funding goes towards materials and subsidizing the cost for our members to attend GNCTR. We are the only team with a carbon fiber shell, which greatly improves the safety and speed of our design, made possible with the support CPSIF provides.
Eric Pinkerton, Andrew Baksys, Mila Markovski, Sam Denomme, Aral Isci, Micah Jackson, design team leads posing with the toboggan.
Competition team posing with first place competition trophy.
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