A-team show drive in design challenge

A team of pupils from a Staffordshire school are celebrating after winning a national competition to design and build a top-notch radio-controlled car.

Chase Terrace Technology College students Conor Hession, Mark Richards, Alex Foden and Jack Biddle, all aged 15, have been crowned winners of Land Rover's TrackNavChallenge 2008 after putting in months of hard work to create their model. The dedicated pupils – they called themselves the A-Team – each scooped a Land Rover mountain bike for their hard work.

Their physics teacher, Adrian Coles, said: "They're all highly motivated; they've met up every Wednesday for almost the entire academic year, and they have worked in their own time as well.

"I'm very proud of them," he added.

The Chase Terrace team sailed through regional heats before seeing off competition from five other schools in the final held at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon.

Mr Coles said: "Before the competition, they had to prepare and build from scratch a radio-controlled car that fitted in with Land Rover specifications.

"At the final, they did a presentation and raced their model around a track," he added.

"The school is really proud of them."

The TrackNavChallenge, which launched last year, is aimed at 14 to 18-year-olds and is designed to introduce young people to the world of engineering and enterprise in a fun, exciting way.

The models the students created had to meet strict specifications and emulate what a real Land Rover can do.

The A-Team also had to produce a portfolio detailing the experience, design and decision-making process, along with financial records and deliver a presentation to a panel of judges.

TrackNavChallenge's manager Ruth Martin said: "The challenge provides students with an insight into what is involved within a real engineering environment in a fun and stimulating way."

Mr Coles said that after the students' success in the Land Rover challenge, he was hoping to find a new team to continue their winning streak next year.