NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Teams of students from the state's technical high schools raced to find problems and fix cars at Gateway Community College on Wednesday.

The competition, which started with 200 students, was whittled down to 20 -- two each from 10 Connecticut technical high schools -- for the showdown. Each team had 90 minutes to find and fix 10 identical problems in some supplied Fords.

"When you're dealing with 17- and 18-year-old students and you have 90 minutes to fix a lot of problems, a lot of pressure on them, and I think a lot of the students rise to the occasion so wonderfully," said Larry Eiden, of the Connecticut Technical High School System.

The winners in Wednesday's competition each get two-year scholarships in the Ford training program and will go on to a national event in Michigan, which has millions of dollars in scholarships as prizes.

"First things we found, a couple relays were messed up and we had to replace those, and that's what first got the engine cranking and we got it started from there," Windham Technical High School student Eric Roarabaugh.

Once the students found the problem, they were given replacements part to install, then they moved on to the next issue.

"It was probably the pressure, the problems weren't that bad," said Windham Tech student Ryan Schneider. "It was just time taking, we had to be careful not to break anything."

As for their instructors, who could only watch from the sidelines, one said it's like being in the waiting room at the maternity ward.

"It's gratifying," said David Morello, of Howell Cheney Technical High School. "I've had one of them since he was a freshman, and he's done quite well. We're proud of him."

The Windham students took top honors in the competition. They will now move on to Dearborn, Mich., for the finals.

The competition is sponsored by Ford, the AAA Connecticut Auto Club and Hertz.