A SOLAR powered car that is zooming into the record books made a flying visit to the County High School Leftwich.

The Cambridge University Eco Racing Team (CUER) are attempting to make the first ever solar-powered journey from Land's End to John O'Groats and stopped at the Leftwich school, in Granville Road, en-route.

Marek Piotrowski, head of science, said the children were awestruck by the spaceship shaped car.

"The tremendous interest and excitement shown by the pupils was a pleasure to see," he said.

"Year Seven pupils were wholly engaged in building and racing their solar buggies and pupils from all years examined the road vehicle and talked to the Cambridge engineers.

"Some of the teachers dreamed of a time when painful visits to petrol stations were a thing of the past."

As part of the challenge, the team of 40 Cambridge students are aiming to inspire the public about environmental issues and sustainable technologies.

Jia Yan Gu, CUER outreach officer, said: "We're really excited about the opportunity to engage with school children and the public along the route. We want to spread our enthusiasm about applying technology to help solve environmental issues."

The team is now intending to build a second solar-powered car to compete in a 1,850-mile race across Australia.

Team captain Martin McBrien added: "Designing the car has been an exhilarating experience for all involved with the many ups and downs, late nights and breakthrough moments making the whole project worthwhile."