A group of motor engineering students from Weybridge are set to run their own racing team at the UK Formula Vee Championships.

The team of students from Brooklands College were donated driver Jake Hockley’s 145mph Formula Vee single-seater car to race it at the championships under the banner Brooklands College Racing.

The students, who are preparing for engineering careers in the motor racing industry, will keep the car at the college to be worked on before races begin.

Toby Cook, 20, will be part of the team working on the Volkswagen model.

He said: “To be a part of the team is a fantastic opportunity, it feels really good to know the coaches have chosen me.

“I think the championships will be a learning curve for us all, we will all win and lose together and won’t blame one another.”

William Fenton, another student working on the car, said: “All of us guys get on so well and we are all looking out for each other.

“I think we are just hoping to get the car running and to do as many races as we can.”

Engineering tutor Richard Green said: “This is a great opportunity for the students, given the college doesn’t really have piles of spare money to actually buy and run a proper racing car.

“The project is different from those of other colleges whose students help existing teams. In this case we are the team. And Although Jake will still fund it, we feel like the car is as much ours as his.

“By maintaining or repairing it at base and then operating it at race meetings, our students will get a fully-rounded idea of what it takes to engineer a racing car. And apart from anything else, it should be a lot of fun.”

Mr Hockley, 38, who runs a cyber security firm, said: “I’m going racing to scratch a long-held itch. But to be honest I’m really just interested in driving and my mechanical ability is limited, to say the least.

“A partnership with the college is a win-win situation for both of us. I can just jump in and drive, which is really all I have time for given my business commitments, and the students get a modern single-seater which they can use to learn on and practise their developing skills.”

Former students at the college include drivers Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole, who have both driven in the British Touring Car Championships.

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