The BLOODHOUND Team and Education Ambassadors took the show car to a hangar in Wiltshire over the weekend of 12th and 13th September - it was the Science Museum's Festival of Innovation. The show car was the centre of attraction, placed right in front of a Constellation aircraft, and very soon the Education Team and Ambassadors were extremely busy helping children (and parents!) building and testing the BLOODHOUND balloon car.

We were absolutely inundated with people who were keen to get out of the cool breeze that had sprung up across the airfield ... we sold plenty of sweatshirts too! The two pictures above show the balloon car table with Tony Parraman and the team doing their best to keep up with demand. At one point, we began to run out of materials, and Dave Rowley was sent out to try and find dowelling for the axles - lesson learnt ... BLOODHOUND is now really generating an awful lot of interest. We estimate that around 1,000 balloon cars were build during the weekend, and many children were seen clutching theirs on their way home!

Chief Aerodynamicist Ron Ayers gave a talk on Saturday, then Project Director Richard Noble talked about the BLOODHOUND project on Sunday ... and was kept busy on the stand signing posters, while our friends from RDF Media were there with their recording equipment (picture below). We all had a great weekend, and even though we were on the go constantly, managed to get a chance to look round at the amazing exhibits in the hangar. 1K Club President, Ian Glover, even found a Sinclair C5 to play with!

Thanks to the Science Museum for organising the event, The BLOODHOUND Team (Richard Noble, Ron Ayers, Ian Glover, Dave Rowley, Tony Parraman, Sarah Covell and Nick Chapman) and the BLOODHOUND Education Ambassadors, who gave up their weekend (Tristan Judge, Chris Henley, David Pascoe and Simon Veale).

Why not try to make your own balloon car? A pdf template is below, just download, print double-sided onto some card, follow the instructions .... and think about the science!

BLOODHOUND Balloon car template

When finished, it should look like this.