STUDENTS from Neale Wade Community College at March were thrilled to receive a bronze medal at Rockingham Motor Speedway last week, after racing a car they had constructed.

The team of eight youngsters, aged from 11 to 14, competed in a four hour endurance Greenpower Challenge against 47 other schools in the Midlands area heat.

Before the event at the Corby track, the pupils had worked as a team over several months to construct a full size single seat racing car to compete in the challenge.

At the track, the first two hours of the event were completed in torrential rain, but team spirit was superb and the car required little maintenance. The teams’s vehicle completed 38 laps of the 1.5 mile circuit, giving the students a bronze medal for travelling more than 50 miles in their first attempt at the competition.

Team clothing was supplied by Helen Hodge (www.so-n-sew.com), and extra support for the day was provided by many of the students’ parents.

The aim of the Greenpower Challenge is to encourage school age children to become more involved in engineering activities and consider the possibility of engineering as a future career.

The school is very grateful to have received help from volunteers Bob Jackson and David Smith, who have lots of Greenpower experience, working with a number of students in the area over the years.

Teachers Jan Ward and Tom Chegwidden said: “The students did an excellent job at the event. They all had a job to do and they performed brilliantly, we’re very proud.”