19 January 2010
There was great excitement as Farnborough College of Technology was offered the chance to exhibit the Bloodhound super sonic prototype car in the newly opened Aerospace and Automotive Academy. The car arrived at the College for a one day special viewing to allow local school children, businesses and young engineers the opportunity to find out more about this exciting project.
The Bloodhound SSC Education Programme is dedicated to bringing this project into the UK’s classrooms. Over 2400 Primary and Secondary schools are already using BLOODHOUND as a vehicle for teaching maths, science and technology and this figure is growing very fast. The primary objective of the Project is to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science, engineering, technology and maths - by demonstrating how they can be harnessed to achieve the seemingly impossible, such as the Bloodhound 1000mph land speed record.
The Bloodhound SSC project, headed up by Sir Richard Noble, has been designed to create the ultimate land speed record car, with the goal of reaching 1000mph – that’s 1.4 times the speed of sound! The current land speed record, set by Thrust SSC, stands at 763mph and Bloodhound aims to improve this by 31%. This will be achieved by the use of both a jet and hybrid rocket. The rocket provides raw power in the form of an on/off device, whereas the jet provides power controllability to the car.
Whilst aiming to reach 1000mph, the Bloodhound team have also worked hard to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists, whilst also providing an iconic programme with access for students at all levels.
The College were delighted that invited pupils from St Peters primary school, and also students from Tomlinscote, Kings International and Fernhill secondary schools were able to join in this experience. Sue Sutton from Tomlinscote School said “The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and found the talk most informative”
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and Thamesway Young Members Panel were part of the event organisation and preparation. The panel consists of young engineers from the Thamesway region who volunteer to organise engineering based events, these events are supported directly by the IMechE and allow the young engineers to gain competencies that directly help towards gaining chartership. Stuart Murray head of the College Engineering department said “There has been great excitement from both students and staff about this event, and it has exceeded our expectations. The car is stunning and the technical aspects of the whole project have been of real interest to our young Engineering students”
The day finished with the opportunity of 100 especially invited guests to come along to a lecture given by Hywel Vaughan and Tony Parraman from Bloodhound SSC about the more technical aspects of the Bloodhound and what it’s like working on such a prestigious project. Hywel said “the day had been a real success and the students and been very engaging. Its great that we can get the message over that Engineering is a fascinating subject, that’s not just about fixing machines its so much more” Tony added “If Bloodhound achieves its aim of inspiring a new generation of engineers, who will in turn build a high-technology, energy efficient, low-carbon world of the future, then Bloodhound SSC will have achieved a huge environmental saving”.