ENGINEERING and motor vehicle students from the Borders are celebrating after scooping an racing award.

Students from the Borders College travelled to Aintree, home of horse racing in Liverpool, not to participate in racing of the four-legged variety but the four-wheeled kind as part of the Greenpower Racing Championships.

They built and developed an electric racing car as part of an international initiative that which looks to advance education in the subjects of sustainable engineering and technology to young people.

Eleven students headed off to Aintree, supported by four members of staff to take part in the event, which saw them compete against 60 teams, with entrants travelling from as far away as Poland.

Racing in the Formula 24 Plus race, for 16-25 year olds, the Borders College electric cars managed an average speed of 15mph, placing College team in the middle of the table.

Lecturer Dave Black said: “Despite not winning the speed race, which involved one hour of non-stop racing in the electric car, the students did very well on a number of levels.”

“We were keen to give all our eleven students the opportunity to race on the course which meant we had constant driver changes which has an overall impact on our average time.”

Motor Vehicle student Holly Hancock said: “I just held my nerve and pushed my way to the front of the grid. It was great to get past some of the big names in the race.”

The Borders College team was awarded the overall ‘Spirit of Greenpower’ award which is given to the team that is are judged to demonstrate hard work, enthusiasm, collaboration, communication skills and dedication on the day as well as having and a  positive attitude that best reflects the

Greenpower ethos team leader and College Lecturer Dave Black added: “The objective of taking part was mainly to give our students and our hand built cars some race time so that we can look to progress to the next stage of the national competition early in the New Year.”