MONTHS of preparation were over in a flash as a group of men plunged into a freezing cold lake during the Red Bull Flugtag competition.

The Ghostbusters-themed group named Virtigo-Stbusters attempted to take flight over London’s Serpentine on a home-made flying machine, in an attempt to win £5,000 or a pilot’s licence.

The team was made up of Chris Girdwood, 32, Sinclair Phillips, 33, and Craig Swampy, 36, all from West Byfleet, and Leighton Jones, 28, from Aldershot.

Entrants were judged on the distance they flew, their creativity and their pre-flight performance.

Virtigo-Stbusters saw their flying machine's wings break before take-off, but they still managed to perform in front of three celebrity judges - Jodie Kidd, vocal coach Carrie Grant and Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood - ultimately coming 12th out of the 44 teams taking part.

Pilot Chris Girdwood said: "It was a cracking day. The car looked outstanding and everyone commented [on] how good it looked.

"It got ranked very highly in the table for the design as well as the performance.

"Unfortunately when we were taking the car up the ramp the wings broke and there wasn't anything we could do about it."

Meanwhile, Ashtead's Loo-ny Tunes team came home in 22nd place.

Nick Coker, Danny Goodge, Nigel Goodall and David Adams competed in a "bog standard" giant flying toilet, complete with toilet roll holders.