Earlier in the day the four teams made up of pupils from Maesglas, The Gaer, Oaklands and Tref-y-Rhyg Primary Schools had worked together in teams to design and manufacture their own Bloodhound CSS cars. Alan Rowse, Design & Technology Programme Leader at Newport explains, 'The Bloodhound CSS category of the F1 Schools Challenge is all about aerodynamics and speed.  All the pupils took considerable time and care sanding down their balsa wood cars before powering them down a specially prepared 15 metre track by CO2 gas cylinder.'

A time of 0.802 seconds, clocked by the track’s overhead digital timer, secured winner medals and a cup for the Rocket Racers from Maesglas Primary. The winners will now go forward to the South Wales Regional final in Swansea in February to win a place at the UK National Finals which will be held at the Big Bang Science Fair in Docklands, London.

The Bloodhound CSS Challenge is supported by the Engineering Education Scheme Wales who are lead partner for STEM CYMRU, a £3m project to increase the number of young engineers, scientists and mathematicians in Wales recently unveiled by the Assembly Government