Teacher Chris Surridge said the competition was part of the Australian HPV Super Series.

He said this was the first event for the year.

“It’s an eight-hour race, and the students are very keen,” he said.

“We have two new vehicles this year and they seem to be faster than before.

“In training the students have gone about 45 to 50 kilometres an hour.”

Mr Surridge said about 30 students from year 6 to year 10 were involved in the competition.

“We haven’t done a lot of training yet, but we’ve just finished team selection,” he said.

“There are a lot of students that were involved last year and they’ve held their fitness pretty well.”

Mr Surridge said throughout the year the team would compete in events at Loxton, Bendigo and Maryborough.

He said Hindmarsh Shire were also working towards starting an event in Dimboola and the team would be involved in trialling the track.