A BRADFORD-based engineering firm has lent a helping hand to a London private school as they aim to take the chequered flag in a schools Formula 1-inspired racing competition.

Bronte Precision Engineering, based in Low Moor, has manufactured a specialist set of wheels for the team from Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, West London.

A team of six students from the school’s sixth form have formed the Hermes Racing Team, who are in the finals of the F1 in School competition.

They progressed after picking up a wildcard entry following the regional final in London.

In the competition, students have to design, build, and test their very own miniature Formula 1 cars, before racing them against teams from across the UK.

But with only two weeks until the finals, the students, all in Year 12, faced a major problem - their car didn’t have any wheels, which was where Bronte Precision Engineering stepped in.

The students had tried to make their own wheels without much success, so a teacher at the school contacted Bronte Precision Engineering asking for urgent help.

The company built aluminium wheels for the car, which it hopes will help the students to claim victory at the finals.

It built 12 wheels, each just 1.5 millimetres thick, that will give the car less resistance as it races down the track at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.

The cars are fired down a track using pressurised carbon dioxide, with the fastest car crown the champions.

Steven Leach, managing director at Bronte Precision, said: “We think this is a fantastic competition and hope that it will encourage many students in the UK to consider a career in engineering. Manufacturing and engineering can be exciting if presented in the right way, and we wish the team every success for the competition and the future.”

Year 12 student Finlay, the manufacturing engineer for Hermes Racing Team, thanked Bronte Precision Engineering for its help.

He said “Bronte have been a truly amazing contributor to our project, machining our wheels for free.

“Without this, we would have had to have used 3D printed nylon, which would produce more resistance, or I would have had to have made them manually on a centre lathe, which would have been inaccurate and very time consuming.“

The national finals take place tomorrow and Thursday at the Silverstone Wing at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, with the victors going on to World Finals later this year.