THREE North Yorkshire students have raced through to the London final of a design competition with their model jet car.

The trio, from Northallerton College - Daniel Tucker, 14, James Baker, 15, and Peter Smith, 14, - designed and built their drag-racer in just a month, mainly in their spare time.

And this week they entered it for the Jaguar Formula One Team Challenge at Hull University.

In competition with 15 other teams, some of them sixth-formers and some with 12 month's development work on their models, they swept the board at the regional event, winning three awards for best overall car, best in their year group and the fastest car.

Their car, made out of balsa wood and powered by a carbon dioxide cylinder, accelerated from 0 to 45mph in just 1.086 seconds.

Designed by computer and made to strict specifications, it was scrutinised by judges for measurements and weight, and came out top of the field.

The trio also received praise for their presentation, in which they had to explain their design ideas, and answer questions from a panel of engineers.

Peter said: "We were a bit intimidated when we saw the other entries. We did not expect to win, but when we did, we were over the moon.

The three are now looking forward to the finals, on January 8, in London.

James said: "We are going to modify the car a little and polish up our presentation."

The college's head of design and technology, Steve Marshall, said: "We are very proud of them.

"This is a marvellous return on the thousands of pounds the college has just invested in computer-aided design machinery."