One thousand school children from 60 schools gathered at Newquay Cornwall Airport this week to race electric cars that the pupils designed and built from scratch.

The annual South West Regional Heat of the Greenpower schools electric car races, organised by Cornwall College, is the culmination of months of hard work from primary and secondary schools across the region.

Greenpower is a competition which aims to spark an interest in engineering by allowing children to design and build electric cars, finding their own sponsors, resources and support they need to make their designs reality. The project incorporates maths, engineering, physics, design, marketing, team building, technology, problem solving & communication, and following its proven success in these areas, many schools now incorporate Greenpower into their curriculum.

Archie Miller (pictured), age 12 from Penair School in Truro, said:

“It’s been really good fun, a great atmosphere. It was great to race against so many other teams. I’ve enjoyed doing the project as you have something like this to aim for at the end.”

Winners go on to the national finals at Goodwood later this year.