Rising motor racing star Alice Powell opened new automotive training workshops at Macclesfield College by cutting a ribbon held between two engines.

In a converted light industry unit, the new facilities include four ramps, new engines, classrooms and industry standard tools and equipment.

Alice Powell said: “This is fantastic — if I had had facilities like this when I was younger, I would’ve been over the moon.”

She said that motorsport in future would look to students and apprentices trained “in workshops like this”.

“It is so important to have the support of good engineers and mechanics. Everything you see in the industry, it all started here in workshops,” she said.

Featured image caption: Alice Powell cuts the ribbon with students Callum Benson, 18, principal Simon Andrews and Adam Swindells-Wright, 18