A group of Formula 1-mad schoolboys have moved a step closer to a trip of a lifetime to Malaysia.

Six year nine pupils from St Gregory the Great Catholic School, in Cricket Road, Oxford, spent months designing a miniature Formula 1 car to race in the national F1 in Schools competition.

And at the contest's national finals, at the Autosport Show in Birmingham, last weekend, the team - Dominic Henry, Gareth Spackman, Elmo Law, Adam Matheson, Sebastian Tampin and Harry Smith - were named UK champions for the 11 to 14 age group, and ended up in the top three in the whole contest.

Leading the team, called The Hippos Strike Back, was Dominic, 13, from Headington. He said: "We're all into cars, so it was a fantastic place for us to be.

"The tournament was interesting, because we could compare ourselves to other teams across the country and see how we could make improvements.

"Through doing this we have learned basic business skills, how to speak in front of people, how to test cars properly, mathematical formulas, and also how to work with different groups of people. We really enjoyed it, although it was quite hard work"

More than 300 schools across the country entered the contest's regional heats last December, in which the Hippos sped to victory. Thirty-three teams vied for the top prize.

An English, Welsh and Scottish team will now be chosen from the top-performing cars at the Autosport Show to represent their countries at the international final in Malaysia.

As the overall winners were from Wales, the Hippos are still in with a chance of being selected.

The top prize for the winning team in Malaysia is a £250,000 scholarship to City University, in London.

Dominic said: "We've put an awful lot of effort in and we're hoping all our efforts will pay off."

Teacher Nick Humphries said: "I'm extremely proud. The teamwork has been absolutely superb and they have been supportive of each other and very professional.

"We couldn't have done it without the support of parents and our sponsors."