AN all-girls team at Melksham Oak Community School have demonstrated their engineering expertise after reaching the finals of a national competition now in its third season.

The three-strong Team Snap - Lillie, 11, Rosie, 12, and Alicia, 12 - will be among 40 schools competing in the Race for the Line national final on Thursday, June 28 at RAF Wittering near Peterborough.

The girls designed and made a rocket-powered car made of blue foam, inserting wheels made on a 3D printer, which sprinted to more than 34mph over a 20-metre course at the regional final at MoD Corsham.

Alicia said: “I think that it’s really good that we have achieved this as a team and have managed to get this far.”

Lillie commented: “I am proud that we managed to do it without breaking under the stress and not actually freaking out.”

Rosie added: “I am really proud of what we did - and we managed to beat some of the boys.”

The competition is intended to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and scientists with a national rocket car racing competition involving around 70,000 Year 7/S1 students in England, Scotland and Wales.

Using guidance and lesson materials, the student teams have to design and make a foam rocket car, and wheels and axles, if they wanted to.

The regional finals have identified the top 40 teams from the 18,000 competing nationally who will be invited to compete in the national finals.

The school’s head of Design & Technology, Kirstie Jones, said: “We held a Year 7 Science, Technology Engineering and Maths event to build a car for Race for the Line.

“The cars were tested to see how far they could go with rockets. The top two teams then went onto the regional finals at MoD Corsham, where they competed against 14 other teams, aided by the armed services.

“Both teams designed and built their car on the day and along with their competitors raced the rocket car on the drag strip.

“The girls’ team car achieved a speed of 34.75 mph over a distance of 20 metres and finished runners up behind St John’s School, Marlborough.

“Melksham Oak Community School are very proud of what they achieved and the girls are very excited to represent the school.”