Two weeks ago, members of the Formula One Challenge Club gathered on South Island School's basketball court to test-drive their Formula One (F1) cars for the first time.
A computer was connected to a 20-metre-long wooden race track custom-built to test these foot-long model cars.
A red and yellow car were put in position at the starting block. The computer remotely controlled a needle on the block which fired carbon dioxide into the cars' cartridge to provide the power they need to shoot to the end of the track.
The 12 students from Years 7 to 9 are now busy designing and manufacturing carbon dioxide-powered model Formula One cars for the F1 in Schools Challenge, a competition open to schools around the world.
Jonathan Ku, 11, is something of an expert on model F1 cars.
'It takes about 1.2 seconds for a car to reach the end. Last year's winning car took 1.13 seconds,' he said.
