THE great hall at Warwick State High School became an oxygen fuelled speedway yesterday, for the finals of the CO2 Dragster Competition.

The annual competition, which first began in 1982, sees students take on each other and the clock for the title of Warwick High champion.

The dragsters are made from balsa wood and designed and fabricated by Year 9 manual arts students using the tools available to them in the school workshops.

The students undertake a lengthy process, shaping, sanding and painting their dragsters, before taking to the track.

The dragsters run on a stringline and are powered by Co2 bulbs which when electronically punctured at the start lines, sends the lightweight machines flying along the 20m long track at an average speed of 72kmh.

Overall champion Hayley Schnitzerling was excited after taking out the title.

"I didn't expect to win today," she said.

"My car took me a term to make, and I'm so happy that it went so fast.

"It will go to the state titles next, which is awesome."

In the final against fellow student Zac Hamill, Hayley's dragster travelled the 20m track in .956 seconds at a top speed of 87kph.

Industrial design and technology teacher Wayne Hogan said dragster design was important.

"To get the fastest times, these cars need to be efficient, light-weight and as aerodynamic as possible," he said.

"The students worked hard at limiting friction all over their machines to reduce drag.

"The minimum weight we had was 45g."

Over 50 students took part in the competition in 2017 and the school will be hoping to emulate the success they achieved in 2016.

At the national titles last year WSHS placed first and third in the general shop or overal class.

They also came first in the outlaw and teacher classes.

Or in the words of Mr Hogan, "we blitzed it."

Past national champions from Warwick High include Bobby Potts, Alex Clarkson, Lincoln Moor, Conner Vanderwolf and Shaun Kelly.

Warwick Holden was a major sponsor for the 2017 Warwick High Co2 Dragster Competition, donating trophies for the winners.