Richard Noble hopes his latest record attempt will inspire a new generation of engineers
Richard Noble's latest attempt on the world land speed record will please the country's petrol-heads. But Noble has an altruistic aim, too: he wants to reinvigorate science and engineering education, sharing and spreading the specialist knowledge required to build the world's first 1,000 mph car. Speaking at Pioneers 09, the EPSRC sponsored science and innovation fair, Noble set out his plan to create "a generation of engineers". After success in the 60s and 70s, he said, engineering "is dying in this country. The recession is a time when the industry can come flying back."
It was a bullish statement for a project that will require upwards of £10m to realise its goal: raising the land speed record by 31 per cent, the greatest rise in the history of land-speed records. Accelerating at 60mph per second, Noble's Bloodhound car will be travelling faster than a bullet fired from a pistol—if it succeeds, of course.
The project began eighteen months ago after a meeting with science minister Lord Drayson, who was then working with the Ministry of Defence. Noble wanted to use the Eurojet engine to manufacture a car capable of protecting the current record of 763mph from an attempt by the late Steve Fossett. Drayson saw the bigger picture: he wanted to go for a "once-in-a-lifetime" shot at 1,000mph, creating a science and engineering legacy for generations of schoolchildren to follow.
As a result, the Bloodhound team created The Bloodhound Education Programme, available to all primary and secondary pupils, and students in further and higher education. "There are 541 schools already involved," says Noble. "The objective is to share the project and its technology as widely as we can."
All the project data is available to download, which means schools can base lessons on Bloodhound's progress and encourage pupils to contribute to its success. With full, open access to the design, build, test and record attempts, and a special university scheme run by academics from the University of the West of England, Swansea, Southampton and the EPSRC, Bloodhound is essentially a large-scale, "crowdsourcing" project for students. "It's a powerful motivator, says Noble.
Posted 13 March 2009 : Director.co.uk
