Wing Commander Andy Green, holder of the current World Land Speed Record and a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, will be one of the star guests at this year’s Scifest Africa in Grahamstown, adding a supersonic angle to the festival’s theme: “science on the move”

Green will be behind the steering wheel when the BLOODHOUND SSC (Supersonic Car), a jet and rocket-powered car, attempts to increase the current land speed record to just over 1 600 km/h (1 000 mph) at Hakskeenpan in the Northern Cape Province towards the end of 2014 or early in 2015.

“If we’re going to go that fast, then we’ve got to do this better than any aeroplane, and that’s a huge task,” Green writes in his most recent diary entry on the project’s web site

Green will participate in the Scifest Africa opening ceremony on 14 March 2013 and will be present a prestige lecture on “Project Bloodhound” on Friday 15 March 2013 (12:00; Guy Butler Theatre, Grahamstown Monument).

Green’s participation at Scifest Africa is made possible by the British High Commission in South Africa who are keen to develop deeper science and technology links between the UK and South Africa. The British Consul General and Science and Innovation Officer will both be present at Scifest.

BLOODHOUND SSC is the result of remarkable engineering that will allow this ultimate racing car to travel 1,6 km (1 mile) in just 3,6 seconds (or four-and-a half football pitches in 1 second). That is significantly faster than a bullet from a .357 Magnum.

The car weighs in at just over 7 tonnes and is nearly 14 m long. Its engines produce more than 135 000 horsepower (more than 100 000 kW). That is more or less the same horsepower as 160 Formula 1 cars!

Driving at such speeds has the potential to be a high-risk undertaking, requiring unprecedented levels of design expertise and engineering precision to keep the driver safe. The design team will build in safety at every stage. They will use world-leading aerodynamic research using state of the art 'computational fluid dynamic' modelling and some of Europe's most powerful computers to make sure that they keep the car on the ground and stable throughout its speed range.

The car, currently being built in a special Technical Centre near Bristol in the UK, will come to South Africa towards the end of 2013 or early in 2014 for test runs (which will also break the sound barrier), before returning about a year later for the attempt to break the world land speed record.

But, breaking the land speed record is not the main goal of the BLOODHOUND Project. “It is really about inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers by sharing the excitement of this engineering adventure,” explains Dave Rowley, director of the Bloodhound education programme in South Africa. “That is why we are sharing the research, data, design, manufacture and testing of the car with as many educators, learners and students as possible around the world.”

Dave will also be at Scifest Africa with the “Bloodhound Driving Experience” that will offer people the chance to experience the controls Andy Green will have to use and the cockpit displays he will have to monitor to get the car to achieve a new World Land Speed Record and then stop safely. Dave and his educational team will also be running rocket and balloon car workshops.

For media enquiries, please contact

• Marina Joubert; marina.joubert@mettlepr.com; +27 (0)834094254
• Gary Benham; Gary.Benham@fco.gov.uk; +27 (0)832528431
• Isabel Potgieter; Isabel.Potgieter@fco.gov.uk; +27 (0)833911606
• Joy Matambo; media@scifest.org.za; +27 (0) 833481367 (for media interviews with Andy Green during SciFest; find out more about SciFest Africa at www.scifest.org.za)

NOTES TO EDITORS
Join the adventure at www.bloodhoundssc.com
Bloodhound project videos: www.youtube.com/1050mph
Twitter: @Bloodhound_SSC
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BLOODHOUNDSSC

Andy Green set the current world land speed record in October 1997 when he reached 1 228 km/h and broke the sound barrier in the ThrustSSC. Using his previous Thrust experience, and drawing on his first-class mathematics degree from Oxford and his experience as a fighter pilot, he is a central member of the design team for the remarkable BLOODHOUND SSC. Read Andy’s diary at http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/andygreen

 

 

Dave Rowley is the local education programme director for the British-based BLOODHOUND SSC team. He has devoted much of his engineering career in the UK to the promotion of engineering and technology to young people and teachers. Dave is now based in Kimberley, South Africa, and focuses full-time on visiting schools and using every possible opportunity to engage South Africa’s youth in this exciting venture.

Hakskeenpan – the perfect place to break records
As soon as the BLOODHOUND project was launched, the search for a suitable run site began. After two years and several “near misses”, the perfect run site was identified: Hakskeenpan in the Northern Cape. Supported by the Northern Cape government, the local community have almost completed the Herculean task of preparing the track. So far, they have cleared 6 000 tonnes of stones from the 1.1 km wide and 20 km long stretch of desert. The clearing project is now nearing completion. Hakskeenpan info: http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/visiting-hakskeen-pan