The needle-nosed BLOODHOUND Super Sonic Car, a vision of velocity in royal blue and orange livery, is powered by a military jet engine and a hybrid rocket motor and can reach a speed of 1,000 mph – that’s four and a half football pitches per second, or faster than a bullet fired from a .357 magnum.
The Bloodhound Project is Britain’s latest attempt on the World Land Speed Record, but it is also an educational programme designed to inspire a generation and create a surge in the popularity of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) which has fallen in recent years.
This includes taking the car out from its development base in Bristol on educational visits. In August the car is due to go to South Africa for a world record bid.
The College holds an annual Open Day – previously known as Industry Day - at its Willesden Centre in Dudden Hill Lane where hundreds of its Technology students compete to show off their trade skills until the search is narrowed down to 15 champions in each trade, ranging from plumbing to electronics.
But usually the chief guest is a VIP, not an automobile - although CNWL does run many courses in automobile engineering, both in mechanics and body and paint.
Schools and individuals are welcome to drop in from 10am onwards to watch trade demonstrations or have a go themselves at bricklaying, plastering, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painting & decorating and spray painting.
In the body shop (Austin building) and the new technology block (Telford building), visitors will be able to watch students competing against the clock at different levels throughout the day, or tour exhibitions.
Head of Technology Pat Leavey said the visit of the Bloodhound SSC tied in with the College’s theme this year, which is CNWL’s International Links in preparation for World Skills 2011 in London.
Among the guests expected to attend the Open Day, or visit the College around the same date, will be a college principal from Cape Town to sign a memorandum setting up exchange visits, a group from Sweden who are offering a return visit, staff from a Danish college, and representatives from two institutions in Turkey - possibly even an educational associate from Vietnam.
Pat added: “We welcome schools because we want pupils to know that we are now a centre for two technology diplomas – Construction & the Built Environment and Engineering – and we are keen to take pupils on tours of our state-of-the-art facilities.
“Having the Bloodhound on display is a fantastic coup for the College, because as far as we know it’s never been to Brent before. But also, for any 14-19 year-olds thinking of doing our Engineering diploma, this project would be highly relevant to their studies.”
NOTE:
Further education colleges that join the Bloodhound Project can receive regular updates on the project’s progress and have access to regularly updated teaching resources.
Protocol National, a staffing agency which supplies visiting STEM lecturers to FE colleges, is supporting the programme by funding the addition of a member college’s name to the tail fin of the actual car as it makes its record-breaking run.
Protocol says: “The Bloodhound Project is an engineering adventure and the outcome is not certain. It is pioneering work and so mistakes will be made from which everyone can learn.”
The current Land Speed Record is 763. 035 mph, set by Andy Green in 1997, driving Thrust SSC.
.
PICTURE SHOWS: The Bloodhound as it will look when finished
|
