A team of students from U of T Engineering has clinched the top spot in the 2025 Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race.

Their yellow, submarine-shaped vehicle — appropriately named Ringo — beat out nearly a dozen other challengers in the competition, held January 25 at Groupe Plein Air Terrebonne, a ski resort just outside of Montreal.

“I think we were all a bit surprised,” says Amélie Smithson (Year 4 MechE), one of the two co-captains of the University of Toronto Concrete Toboggan Team.

“There was one other team that had a faster time than us, but the overall win is about accumulating the most points across all aspects of the competition. We were very happy to see the amount of work we put in pay off.”

The annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race challenges teams from Canadian engineering schools to put their skills to the test by designing a fast and functional sled.

Any part of the sled that is normally in contact with the ground must be made of concrete, and the vehicle must be equipped with both a functional braking and steering system. Five team members are required to ride the sled during the various races.

“I think a really valuable part of this competition is how novel it is,” says Tobin Zheng (Year 4 MSE), the team’s other co-captain.

“The unique set of requirements provides a really interesting engineering challenge.”

Check out footage from the competition from CityNews Montreal

Each team designs and builds a new sled from scratch every year. At U of T, the team consists of more than 100 students, mostly but not exclusively from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, though only about 30 were able to attend the actual race.

The students have been working on Ringo for months. After creating models using computer-aided design (CAD) software throughout the spring and summer of 2024, they began pouring concrete parts and assembling the vehicle last fall.

Though the snow conditions in Toronto did not allow for a full ‘road test’ before the competition, each part was tested individually to ensure it met safety requirements.

Among the criteria that the teams are judged on are the formulation of their concrete and the geometric profile used in the design.

“We earned second place for the geometric profile of our skis, which was designed to evenly distribute forces across the skis in order to reduce the likelihood of them cracking during the runs,” says Smithson.

“Another unique aspect of Ringo is that she doesn’t have a chassis. Instead, we integrated hard points into the structural members between the layers of carbon fibre, which helped us significantly reduce weight compared to previous years.”

On race day, there are three events. One is a time trial, in which the goal is to get the fastest speed, typically in the range of 25-30 km/h.

Another, the slalom, requires the team to navigate through three gates on opposite sides of the track to test their steering capabilities.

The final event is the King of the Hill competition, in which teams go head-to-head in individual heats.

There are also points for team spirit, including the design of appropriate costumes, which Ringo and her supporters had in spades.

“I think that the spirit component is really valuable, and something not a lot of other design competitions have,” says Zheng.

“It fosters a sense of community and makes everyone enjoy the competition.”

The team took second place in both the speed race and King of the Hill events, making their overall win as satisfying as it was surprising.

“As soon as they read out our name, everyone just exploded in excitement,” says Zheng.

“We all rushed up on stage to receive the trophy, and it was a really wonderful moment.”