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FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET

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Friday, 13 May 2011

Pupils, parents and staff alike were given the rare opportunity to meet with Wing Commander Andy Green OBE on Thursday 12 May during lunch.

Prior to his speech in the Queen’s Hall, current Year 12 pupils (who intend to build a Caterham 7 Kit Car next term) were given the chance to quiz Andy over lunch on topics ranging from aerodynamics to wheel structure and G forces.

 


Andy is an RAF Fighter pilot by day and also currently part of the Bloodhound SSC racing team, which was formed with the intention of beating the current land speed record of 763mph set in October 1997 by Andy’s former team Thrust SSC.  The Bloodhound SSC will be built in Bristol, UK and raced in South Africa in a few years’ time.

Andy presented his Bloodhound project to RGS, showing work done to date, all the technical specifications the new car will require to enable a 1,000mph speed and most importantly, footage of test rockets to demonstrate the propulsion required to reach top speeds.

  • The 12.8m-long, 6.4-tonne Bloodhound SSC (Super Sonic Car) will be expected to travel faster than a bullet fired from a handgun.
  • Its 900mm-diameter wheels will spin so fast they will have to be made from a high-grade titanium to prevent them from flying apart.
  • The car will accelerate from 0-1,050mph (1,690km/h) in just 40 seconds; and at its maximum velocity, the pressure of air bearing down on its carbon fibre and titanium bodywork will exceed 12 tonnes per square metre  (Source BBC website article)

Pupils agreed that this was a great way to spend a lunch break and were enthused to see how Andy’s work related to Chemistry and Physics lessons they attended in upper year groups!

Source: Development Office