TOURNAMENT: Singapore event will feature 25 young teams from around the world

Powered by a compressed carbon-dioxide cartridge, the 7-inch car that weighs less than two ounces can hit speeds of 45 mph.

Building that car has given six Southeast High School students a dream trip to Singapore to represent the United States in a competition involving miniature Formula One Cars.

In the international tournament based on the Formula 1 racing series students from 25 countries race the miniature cars that they design, test and build using some of the advanced design technology employed by real F1 racing teams.

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime," said 17-year-old Tony Griffin, who has never traveled out of the United States. "We can hang with the big dogs in Singapore. I think we'll do real good."

Sending the students will cost about $30,000.

The money came from a variety of sources, including sponsorship and grants.

The students will compete over a period of five days beginning Monday.

Competing at the international level does not come cheaply.

Some teams spend up to $600 just on the wheels for the small cars. Teams need at least four race-worthy cars.

The Southeast Team, called Unitus, have their own portable test track and a miniature wind-tunnel housed in a trailer at the school.

Southeast students saved money on their cars by recycling parts from previous cars and devising their own axle unit.

The students spent hundreds of hours of their own time working on the car that in July won the school the national title in Baltimore.

Each member of the six-person team performs a different role, some focusing on the engineering, others specializing in manufacturing, graphic design and the team even has a manager.

When talking about the car, Brandon Miranda and Yatrik Solanki throw out words like "simulated air flow" and "drag coefficients."

Their car was designed on a 3-D computer modelling program and tested in a virtual wind-tunnel. Then the design is sent to a mill in Virginia where the car is carved from a balsa block.

The students prime the car, affix plastic airfoils and paint and laminate the car including the name of sponsors like Lockheed Martin and the Boys and Girls Club.

The cars are raced over a 59-foot track which is covered in about one second.

Typically, the times of competing teams are only separated by thousandths of a second, meaning every part of the design is crucial.

The teams tweak the design over and over, tying to find whatever aerodynamic advantage they can while still complying with the competition rules.

Three students from Braden River High School will also be in Singapore competing as part of a joint team with a German school.

The students leave today on their 22-hour trip, which includes stopovers in Atlanta and Tokyo.

"I've got a little neck pillow," Tony said. "I'm ready."