The Evans brothers, Simon and Mitch, are hoping to follow in the footsteps of two recent motorsport academy graduates, New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon and aspiring Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley.
The Auckland siblings and seven others have been accepted into the 2009 year-one intake, as nine drivers from 2008 carry on to the second year of the programme.
Both are keen to make a career out of their passion.
Simon (18) and Mitch (15) got started in motorsport at a young age.
Their grandfather and father were motorsport enthusiasts and the boys drifted into it.
"Dad took us down to the kart track and we just got hooked from there," Simon said.
The brothers race in the Formula Ford championship and have had some success.
Mitch finished second in the championship this season and also shone in Formula Ford events in the Australian Grand Prix.
The brothers enjoy competing but also look out for each other.
"On the track he is just another competitor, but we help each other out," Simon said.
"He tells me where he thinks I was lacking and I tell him how he could improve."
Mitch agreed: "You don't want to have an incident but it is really good to have someone that close to you racing with you."
The pair had a stint in the cosiest room in Dunedin yesterday - the University of Otago's heat chamber.
A feature of the programme is the racing simulators set up in the heat chamber to help replicate the conditions drivers are exposed to during racing.
"As soon as you walk in the room, the heat just hits you straight away. That's what the temperatures are going to get up to in the car," Simon said.
Inside the chamber, it is 40degC and the humidity is 60%.
It is suffocating and extremely hard to breathe but the drivers must learn to cope and maintain their concentration.
The academy is run by the New Zealand Academy of Sport South Island in partnership with the Motorsport New Zealand Scholarship Trust and is designed to help provide the drivers with the skills and knowledge to succeed in the sport.
Training for the drivers ranges from fitness to nutrition to public speaking.
