Posted: 16/11/11
School pupils in the fast lane
Pupils and staff from Ethel Wainwright Primary School, Mansfield, pictured with former land-speed world record-holder and director of the Bloodhound Project, Richard Noble OBE, (front of group picture) who brought a scale model of the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car (SSC) – a vehicle designed to take the world land-speed record to over 1,000 mph – to Vision West Notts.
The college joined forces with the Bloodhound education programme to stage two days of specialist engineering workshops for school children across Mansfield and Ashfield.
Held at the college’s Construction and Logistics Skills Academy in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, it saw almost 300 primary and secondary school pupils hear about the engineering that goes into building the pencil-shaped vehicle, which will be powered by a jet engine and a rocket, before having a go at constructing and racing their own balloon-powered cars.
The Bloodhound Project aims to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects by demonstrating how they can be harnessed to achieve feats such as breaking the land-speed record. Launched in 2008, it helps pupils understand how important aerodynamics, weight and quality of engineering design are to the performance of the car.
Mr Noble held the land-speed world record between 1983 and 1997 after reaching 633 mph in a car named Thrust2. As part of his visit he gave a talk about the project to 30 of the college’s own engineering students before addressing governors and stakeholders at the college’s annual review meeting.
