Students from about 30 Pennsylvania high schools soon will test their technical know-how with emissions-free electric vehicles.

They will participate in the sixth annual electric go-cart competition at the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Cumberland County from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday (5/1). Sunday (5/2) is the rain date. PP&L, Inc. and GPU Energy are the primary sponsors of the event, which is free to the public. Carlisle Productions, owners and operators of the Carlisle Fairgrounds, sponsors the local Carlisle High team and allows use of fairgrounds facilities for the event. The Appalachian Sports Car Club of Harrisburg handles all electronic timing for the competition.

"From a business/education standpoint, the event is competitive, but more importantly, it promotes team spirit and cooperative learning," said Larry Sparta, director of Education Relations for PP&L. "We are teaching the students to work with others to achieve a common goal."

Each participating school received a go-cart chassis donated by its local electric utility. To prepare themselves for working with zero-emission vehicles and to challenge their technical skills, the students had to build go-carts that could run on electricity from commercially available lead-acid batteries, instead of gasoline-powered engines. Creativity was an active ingredient along with a set of safety specifications, including go-cart size, weight, brakes, tires, properly covered drive devices, roll bars, seat belts and shoulder harnesses.

The teams will be judged and awarded points on the following: design, appearance, quality of construction, inclusion of safety features, integrity of moving parts, quality of electrical connections, innovative use of materials and overall assessment of the go-cart. Judging also will cover an oral presentation, acceleration test and endurance test.

First-, second- and third-place finishers in each area covered by the judging will receive trophies. The overall winner of the competition also will receive a trophy.

All participating teams will receive a plaque from the sponsoring utilities.