Around 50 youngsters from the Dellwood, Whitney and Sandys Middle Schools brought their ideas from the drawing board to reality last week by taking part in an electric car racing and design competition.

Keeping within the realm of design and technology classes, the pupils were each given 12-inch wooden blocks to carve and fabricate into cars capable of racing on a 150-foot track.

The experiment was held at the Dellwood Middle School last Friday and saw around 60 cars on display. There were five categories — judged by three motor mechanics from HWP Group, Rayclan Ltd. and Euro Car Ltd.

Treshun Correira, 13, of Dellwood Middle School, entered two cars. He said his interest in wood-work and drag racing led him to the competition.

“I have a lot of fun doing these things, making them and racing them. I have a lot of remote control cars at home and I like going fast — good aerodynamics,” he said.

“Aerodynamics, meaning an object must be in perfect shape for the wind to go over it. Right now, I want to be a carpenter when I get older, because it means working with your hands and building things.”

The Hobby Shop at Southside donated top-notch radio and electric racing cars for the winners, who also received certificates and tokens from John Barritt and Sons Ltd after judging.

Dominica Funrtz of Sandys Middle School won ‘best paint job’, Nicholas Septimus of Dellwood Middle School took ‘best design’, Chris Godfrey (school not mentioned) prevailed in ‘the most original’ class and Sandys pupil Denzel Vickers received an ‘honourable mention’.

Co-organiser Nigel Rowland, who teaches design and technology at Dellwood Middle School, said the premise of the event was to promote craftsmanship, science and ingenuity among the students. “It’s fun! And it’s also a challenge for the kids that are interested in it — kids love speed,” he said. “This is our second year in having this event, which is also a part of an after-school club we have at Dellwood for the kids.

“The kids had to do all of the fabricating and designing of the cars themselves. And, they’re here racing their cars, particularly, very interested to see how fast it can go.“We look at this at a fun activity that is very much related to design and technology.”