BOYS and girls from Lindley Primary School have got Formula One fever after winning top prizes at the F1 in Schools competition.

The aspiring F1 boffins put in hours of work after school to create a miniature Formula One car which they raced along a 20 metre track against competitors from across the region.

Teams were also rated on design, marketing, teamwork and engineering at the West Yorkshire F1 in Schools final at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

But it was Lindley’s Year 6 boys aka. – The Lindley Lightning Bolts – who stormed to victory beating 28 other teams.

The ‘Bolts’ also won the fastest car award with a time of 1.205 seconds.

Lindley’s girls team – The Queens of Speed – also did well taking home third place.

And two more Huddersfield schools took further glory for the region.

Moorlands Primary School won two prizes for the ‘Best Team Sponsorship’ and ‘Best Portfolio’ and Reinwood Primary took the honours for ‘Best Website’.

Lindley Primary teacher, John Crosland, said the competition had been a great experience. .

All of Huddersfield’s trophy winning teams were mentored by the current F1 in Schools champions for West Yorkshire, Team Raptor from Salendine Nook High School and Mr Crosland thanked them for their expert advice.

He said: “We started in October, it’s been a huge amount of work for us, it’s high school level work. The enthusiasm that came from the high school kids was very inspiring.

“A few of the lads are already plotting their campaign for when they’re at Salendine Nook next year.”

The four-man Lindley Lightning Bolts team was made up of Luca Mellor, Umar Khan, Ben McNeil and William Eaton.

Team manager Luca said they were always confident they would take the top prize.

He said: “It just feels so good to win because we have worked as hard we could and put everything we could into it.

“It was amazing when our name was read out but we think we deserved the win.”

Umar added: “I enjoyed making everything, it was really fun.

“When we found out we’d won it was a big thrill, we jumped up and down and threw our hands up in the air.”

All four boys said they hoped to work in F1 for real one day.

David Milnes, assistant headteacher at Salendine Nook, said they had run sessions for all three Huddersfield primary schools and showed them how to use the advanced manufacturing equipment and the school’s wind-tunnel.

He said: “We were absolutely thrilled to bits for them. We know how hard they worked so it’s really pleasing to see all three schools had some recognition.”

Formula 1 journalist, James Allen, who commentated at the event, said: “I’ve always been impressed with the work of the children in the F1 in Schools programme, but the event for the younger age group in Leeds really blew my mind. There were nine-year-olds looking at the problem of reducing friction in wheels, taking weight out of the chassis, improving aerodynamics – all the things that real engineers do.”