Laughs were had, friendships were made and karting was the winner as about 100 people attended the annual Grass Kart Challenge at King's High School on Saturday.
Twelve teams of 15 to 19 year olds from around the South Island spent the year building karts from scratch, through schools, polytechnics or vocational courses, and raced them.
Grass Kart Challenge team leader Glenys McKenzie said it was the culmination of hard work and preparation and pupils had spent about 100 hours outside school putting their karts together.
''The ... challenge [was] started to promote mechanical engineering skills,'' Ms McKenzie said.
''They learn to work together as a team, they learn communication skills, they learn about time management [and] they get unit standards at level one and two.
''They also quote back to me - measure twice, cut once,'' she said.
The karts had 6.5hp motors and could reach speeds of up to 55kmh ''on the back straight''.
There had been no accidents in nine years of the event, she said.
Ms McKenzie, the general manager of Southern Group Training, said about 50% of karting team members from rural schools ''went on to a trade''.
''It's been really interesting where they have progressed to. It's great actually.''
Thirty thousand dollars worth of prizes would be given out and the overall winning team would receive $1000 in the form of vouchers.
Otago Polytechnic team member Ethan Crichton (19) said racing the karts was the best part of the process.
''Learning new skills and having some fun and meeting some new people [is what it's all about].''
Northern Southland College workshop teacher Mike Dixon said his pupils gained a lot of mana from the experience.
''It's [considered] cool to be in the grass kart teams,'' Mr Dixon said.
''They love it.''
