Ready to race: F1 in Schools students off to Adelaide nationals

Comprising five teams in total, the group is set to take part in the 2024 Australian F1 in Schools national competition.

The prestigious event will see 43 teams racing their cars on a 20-metre track, where they can reach speeds of 80 kilometres an hour.

Students create their models through software such as Fusion 360 and print them with CNC machining.

Zenith team leader Beatrix Wightman said the crews had very limited time to create their cars, having only started development after the state finals last October.

"We've been working out of school. It's a lot of effort to get something like this together," she said.

"We've done our best so we'll just see how they race."

Crescent team leader Asya Isin is in her first year with the F1 in Schools program.

Ahead of the nationals, she described her mental state as "really excited, really nervous and really stressed".

"Because of course if anything breaks we have to fix it and that's a lot of pressure sometimes," she said.

Titanium team leader Nina Hasdell agreed, adding that it was difficult to know what to expect from such a large competition.

Both competitors said they were proud of how their teams had adapted to changing conditions, especially with new regulations.

"One of the strengths of our car is how versatile it is," Ms Isin said.

"Because we tried to stay open to many ideas, we tried to incorporate as much variety as possible."

Lucy Walker, from Team Convergence, has set a high bar for herself, with her team achieving second place in the development class at the nationals last year.

"Collaboration is a huge thing around our team," she said.

"With the workload being so big, we've done a good job of evening it out so no one's too overwhelmed."