PUPILS have been learning the track skills after taking part in a red-hot racing challenge.

Around 30 children from three primary schools – Wolviston, St Claire’s RC and Whinstone – made and raced balsa model cars during one of Middlesbrough College’s special engineering days.

The idea is to give local schoolchildren a glimpse into the practical applications of the subjects as part of a continuing series organised by the college’s £20m STEM Centre of Excellence.

STEM co-ordinator Emma Forster said: “Not many areas have access to the kind of facilities we have here, so we do a lot of work with local schools to get pupils involved and thinking about careers in STEM subjects.

“On the racing day, the children designed and built their own cars before racing them round our special bolsa track.

“They really got stuck in, with Whinstone School coming out the winners after a great competition.”

Zoe Lewis, principal and chief executive, added: “In our STEM Centre of Excellence we have a resource that’s second to none, and it’s hugely valuable to the future of the young people in our area.

“As well as our STEM days, we do outreach work with local schools as we know they can’t all afford to come to us

“We work with primary school children as well as the older ones, because these are the UK’s skilled workers of the future, and it’s never too early to get them truly engaged.”