The national final was held in Christ Church’s Design, Technology and Visual Arts building last week, with 56 dragsters from 16 schools across Australia racing down the 20-metre track that had been set up for the event.

Small student-designed dragsters are fuelled by a CO2 cylinder inserted in the back of each dragster. They are set off by a firing mechanism that punches the CO2 cylinder. Speed accounts for 60 per cent of the final score, while design and construction make up 30 per cent and the drawing makes up 10 per cent.

Year 9 student Matthew Wozniuk finished second in category B (computer generated), which is the equal best result in the School’s history of competing in the event. And in a first for Christ Church, Matthew’s sleek red dragster was the fastest car at the championships, flying down the track in a sub-second time of 0.968 seconds, which equates to roughly 84km/h. The slowest car recorded 2.205 seconds. Matthews said he didn’t expect his car to go so fast because one of the wheels wasn’t working properly. “The first time it raced it didn’t even finish because one of the wheels jammed,” he said, indicating that without the wheel problem, it probably could have gone even faster.

Fellow Year 9 student Lachlan Hanna finished eighth in category B, but he scored equal first for the design and construction component. He said his design was inspired by one of the designs from last year, but was ultimately designed like an arrow.

The competition attracted a broad range of designs, both in Category A (hand crafted) and Category B (computer generated). It was the first time Christ Church has hosted the event and Head of Design and Technology Geoff McGillivray said the DTVA building proved to be a great venue.

“Event organiser Peter Pooley was ably assisted by all members of the Design and Technology staff and Christ Church students,” Mr McGillivray said. “Lots of our students took the opportunity to view the racing during the day. It was especially exciting for Matthew, and his teacher Jeff Chandler, who could not bear to watch the racing because of the excitement. We look forward to hosting the event next time it comes to WA.”