As student Chris Foxwell posed with the components of a new vehicle it was appropriate for the photographer to ask him to say "cheese".

For Chris, 16, is a member of one of the teams which will be racing the world's first cheese-driven vehicles.

Four hefty truckles of Parmesan-style cheese will form the basis of a cart which the students will have just 45 minutes to assemble.

The teenagers will then pull or push them along a 100-yard course during a Fine Food Fair being staged at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, near Chichester this weekend.

The event is being organised by the regional food group A Taste Of The South-East and the Singleton Museum.

Teams from Brinsbury College, Pulborough and Chichester College of Arts, Science and Technology will compete in the challenge on Sunday, which also marks the start of British Cheese week.

Chris, who is studying agriculture at Brinsbury College, and his fellow team members were given a preview of the wheels of their cart yesterday.

Sue Scott, chief executive of A Taste Of The South-East, said: "On the day we will give the teams the truckles and a selection of tools.

"Then the smallest or lightest student will go on top while the others push or pull it along the course and everyone hopes it does not fall apart."

Each truckle weighs around three stone and the combined wholesale value of the cheeses is £600.

The cheese is produced at Twineham Grange, at Haywards Heath and made from the milk of West Sussex cows.

The food fair, which starts on Saturday, includes an opportunity for children to roll 80 mini truckles down a hill in a sport usually confined to the North of England.

Ms Scott, whose organisation represents 160 producers in East and West Sussex and Surrey, said: "This really is going to be food on the go."

Ms Scott is hoping there will be some cheese left intact for people to sample.

The winning team will doubtless be over the moon, which everyone knows is also made of cheese.