Eight engineering pupils at John McGlashan College are gearing up for pole position at the 2009 Grass Karts Challenge in Mosgiel this weekend.
Not only will they test their racing skills, but also their building skills to see who has designed and built the finest kart.
They are among 16 teams of year 11-13 pupils from 14 secondary schools in Otago, Southland and Canterbury who are studying engineering unit standards under the Tools4Work programme.
Christopher O'Connell, Tom Ryder, Mitchell Scammell, Jeremy Cowan, Malcolm Sutherland, Baden Parr, Joe Corbett and Nick Kennedy have built a kart using a Briggs and Stratton four-stroke engine which has generated 6.5hp and hit speeds of more than 60kmh during testing.
However, the team is hopeful it will go even faster on Saturday, after a few tweaks on the chassis and engine.
Organisers hope the experience of learning practical engineering skills to build something as complex as a go-kart will encourage the pupils to consider engineering as a career.
The challenge is made up of four sections - construction, appearance, record keeping and performance.
The first three categories will be judged from 5pm tomorrow, with the performance driving events to be held on a series of specially designed courses from 9am-4pm on Saturday.
The race-day format will test the overall performance of each kart, with slalom and speed-test races, as well as the traditional individual and team lap races.
