Students centre stage at BLOODHOUND world debut

Students from UTC Oxfordshire joined the excitement as the team behind a world land speed record attempt revealed their supersonic car to the world.

Bloodhound 4Seven students from the Didcot school, which opened in September, attended the world debut of BLOODHOUND SSC at Canary Wharf in London.

The students secured their places at the high profile event, attended by the world’s media, following a competition to build their own rocket-powered cars.

The contest, run by the BLOODHOUND Education team, took place during the first week of the school term and saw students creating their own aerodynamic vehicles in a bid to secure the fastest times.

The winning teams not only got the chance to attend the BLOODHOUND world debut, but will also have their names listed on the car’s rear fin.

Ben Warr, aged 17, said: “Attending the BLOODHOUND launch was a new experience. I’ve never been to an event where you see the release of a big development in British engineering. Seeing the final product was cool. You could feel the sense of achievement from the BLOODHOUND team; that they were really happy with what they’d made and wanted to showcase it.

“We spoke to the designer, who told us he’d started off with the perfectly mathematical, aerodynamic shape of a rugby ball. He then had to adapt and change it and it had taken years to design.

“The fact we get our names written on the back fin of the car is really cool. It is like being part of history.”

Josh Green, also 17, said: “It’s inspiring for young people to see a car go 1000mph. They will look at that and think that if they can do that why can’t I? Technology is going to change so much by the time that they leave university, who knows what can be achieved?”

BLOODHOUND SSC will attempt to reach a speed of 800mph in the South African desert in summer 2016. Based on the success of this attempt, it will schedule a 1,000mph record attempt.

As announced in the summer, the BLOODHOUND team’s headquarters will move to UTC Oxfordshire at the end of October. The team will take up office space at the new school, from which it will co-ordinate the project. Meanwhile, the construction of BLOODHOUND SSC continues at the Bristol Technical Centre.

Owain Johns, principal of UTC Oxfordshire, said: “Our school exists to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers. Partnerships such as this are helping us to realise our goals by providing inspiring, real-world opportunities for our students.

“We are delighted that students were able to attend the high-profile launch of BLOODHOUND SSC and catch some of the buzz which surrounds this remarkable engineering feat. We look forward to following the team’s progress and working more closely with the project as it relocates its headquarters to the school.”