Speed Scotland's bid to break the 1000cc World Land Speed Record suffered a setback when a major engine problem hit the car at 230mph.

The damage meant the Lesmahagow-based team, led by ProMotorsport boss Derek Palmer, had to replace the engine before running again on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

"It's definitely not ideal," Palmer admitted yesterday (Mon)after checking the car, Christened Flower of Scotland, "but these things happen. The car was accelerating through 230mph when the engine suffered a conrod failure in one of its pistons.

"Thankfully we have a spare engine, and we'll instal that into the car. Obviously it's a setback, but the team's strong and we remain committed that we can break the 313mph world record."

The team's 22in-wide, methanol-powered Streamliner carbacked by EFG International and Swiss watchmaker Maurice de Mauriacis driven by Rick Pearson.

And Pearson, one of only two Brits licensed to drive at more than 300mph, found himself driving one-handed at over 150mph in the day's first run.

"On our first run with the car I got a great launch and moved up through the first couple of gears," Pearson explained.

"Everything was running well, but some smoke in the cockpit suddenly got very serious.

"While I was quite relaxed at 200mph with limited visibility, once I got to the point that oxygen became rather limited I thought it was time to throw the chute and slow the car down.

"In fact I was forced to open the canopy as quickly as possible, and to do this I had to undo the belts. I ended up doing around 150mph one-handed and unbelted!

"Once we got the car back to the team, they checked it over and found it was nothing serious, just a seal that had failed.

"The events later in the day, with the conrod failure, certainly put a big dampener on the team, but well fight on even stronger, determined to bring the record back to Scotland."