A TEAM of Stevenston school pupils are hoping to raise enough cash to allow them to compete in the national finals of a UK-wide engineering competition.

Horizon Racing, made up of six youngsters from Auchenharvie Academy, finished third in Scotland in the F1 in Schools STEM Challenge earlier this year, earning them a place in the next round, to be held in Birmingham in January.

The competition, with three classes – entry, development and professional – challenges students to prepare business plans, design, analyse, make, test and race a scale model Formula 1 race car.

Jamie Johnson, Ryan Watt, Lewis Vick, James Cairns, Alicia Harrigan, and Nicole Alexander (all 17) said their success in advancing to the next stage was a "massive achievement" - but they now need help to progress further.

The team's online fund-raising page states: "Unfortunately, this will cost a lot more money than we expected, and we need help to get there.

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"We dream of one day working in this industry and feel this would be a significant step in the right direction.

"Thank you for any donation; we hope to make our community proud in the UK Finals."

Winning at national level will bring Horizon Racing the opportunity to represent their country at the World Finals, to be held alongside an international Formula 1 Grand Prix.

In addition, the F1 in Schools UK Champions will receive UCL Engineering bursaries to the value of £5,000, a trip to the British Grand Prix with an exclusive paddock tour, and the UK Champions trophy.

More than £300 has been donated so far towards the £2,000 goal; to add a donation, visit here.