A school could see its name go down in history as it plays its part in breaking the land speed record.

Talented youngsters, who won an engineering competition, will see their school's name on the side of a car which will hopefully reach 1,000mph in the South African desert.

Murdo Hale and Connor Millar, who were in S1 at Glasgow's Cleveden Secondary when they won, took the top prize at the regional heat of the Bloodhound Challenge.

The boys were charged with taking a piece of Styrofoam and a basic computer and turning it into a racing car.

William Jess, computing and biology teacher at the school, said: "The Bloodhound Project is an attempt to break the world land speed record and is a British challenge to make a car that will go at 1,000mph.

"They are building it in Newquay but it will be raced in South Africa.

"As part of the project, the organisers arranged a series of schools events - and I thought this one would be the ideal way to stretch some of our pupils at Cleveden.

"We put forward several teams for the Scottish heat and it was Murdo and Connor who made it through, winning the Scottish heat."

Murdo and Connor were given just 45 minutes to turn a block of Styrofoam and an engine into a car that could race fast enough to beat their rivals.

The Scotland-wide competition took place at Glasgow Science Centre and won the school £1,000.

Thanks to their Scottish win, the pair were invited to London to a Microsoft conference with 9,000 technology experts where they were given the chance to see the Bloodhound SSC, the racing car.

They took part in another competition, this time against UK-wide finalists, and were again charged with turning Styrofoam into a fast model car.

Despite their best efforts, Murdo and Connor were beaten into second place - by just two milliseconds.

They dubbed their model car Spider Pig, after Homer Simpson's favourite pig, and managed to smuggle it home through airport security.

Mr Jess said: "The boys did really, really well and we thought the car had won because it made it over the finish line first.

"But there was a slight technicality and we were pushed into second place.

"Fog had delayed our flight down to City Airport and it was a real race to get to the venue in time, so what the boys achieved was fantastic.

"The other teams had a chance to practise while Murdo and Connor were running in at the last minute.

"To have the school's name on the Bloodhound SSC as it breaks the record is a great thing for the school."

The current land speed record for cars is held by Andy Green, an Englishman who drove at 763.035 mph over one mile in 1997.