Ten pupils from two Fenland schools left their textbooks at home and enjoyed a class with a difference ... they got to race go-karts around a track.

The teenagers, from Cromwell Community College, Chatteris, and Thomas Clarkson Academy, Wisbech, have been on a one-day-a-week course at the Isle campus of the College of West Anglia.

While on the course, they were involved in a major project to give a new lease of life to two old go-karts.

As a reward for their hard work, they got to drive the good-as-new vehicles they had saved around the track at the WildTracks centre near Newmarket.

Lecturer John Paul Latham, who had designed the Isle project, and Andrew Tsang gave the go-karts a “shakedown” to establish their safety and reliability.

And then it was the turn of the 16-year-olds, who acted as drivers, mechanics and circuit safety personnel.

Mr Latham said: “Once again I am extremely proud of the pupils from both schools who have completed the go-kart restoration project, presentation day and test event with a high level of determination and success.

“I am really looking forward to next year’s project.”