Lord Drayson - Minister of State for Science and Innovation - presents at the BLOODHOUND SSC press launch at The Science Museum, London, 23 October 2008.
Good morning.
On my appointment as minister for science and innovation a few weeks ago, I said to journalists that I'd landed my dream job. I made that comment beside a race track in the US, where I was competing in the Le Mans Series sports car championship.
I can honestly describe today's launch as a dream event.
Not only are we gathered at the Science Museum – my favourite place as a young boy – but we're launching an iconic project to take the land speed record to a previously unimaginable mark.
Andy Green was at the wheel of ThrustSSC on October 15th 1997, when a British team broke the sound barrier on land for the very first time.
Andy reached 763 miles per hour in the Nevada desert – Mach 1.02. That record still stands.
It's now time to push the technology to the next level and expand our horizons – to achieve something truly extraordinary. This is about another British team designing, building and piloting the first land vehicle to exceed 1,000 miles per hour.
The burning question, of course, is why – and I suppose my instant response is: why not?
For 65 of the 109 years that people have contested the land speed record, it has been in British hands. It's been associated with legends like the father-and- son combination of Malcolm and Donald Campbell. Like the fearless Henry Segrave. Like Richard Noble, who regained the record for Britain in 1983 when he drove Thrust2 at 633 miles per hour.
Make no mistake – this is the ultimate in racing. Unlike Formula One, there are no restrictions on design, besides the stipulation for four or more wheels – two of which are required for steering. The rest is down to the imagination and creativity of the team, as well as the skill and bravery of the driver.
The prestige that goes to the country holding the record should not be under-estimated. It demonstrates a can-do attitude, the capacity to innovate, the talent of our research base and manufacturing sector.
And the feel-good factor is just as significant. Andy's amazing drive in 1997 generated a kilometre's worth of press coverage in the UK alone.
Yet the case for building the Bloodhound Supersonic Car goes well beyond any "Boy's Own" impulse, or the desire for national pride – attractive as they may be.
This is good for Britain, for two main reasons.
The first is educational. Over the next two to three years, there will be fantastic opportunities for the nation's schoolchildren to get first-hand exposure to this unique engineering adventure: children aged from five to 19, in all parts of the country.
Primary and secondary schools will be invited to send groups to visit companies involved in the Bloodhound supply chain. Around 30,000 pupils a year will have the chance to visit the project HQ in Bristol and see the car being built. Some will even head out to the desert to witness the car being put through its paces during testing.
And the Bloodhound website, which goes live today, will feature regular updates and broadcasts. It will host material that feeds directly into the national curriculum, including the new engineering diploma.
Quite simply, no previous project of this kind has ever put education on top of its list of priorities and made such a commitment to involve students at every stage. There are great opportunities here to engage young people as they study maths, physics, geography, chemistry, human biology.
Having the "right stuff" in the 21st century requires the skills and know-how that a science- and maths-based education provides. It's no coincidence that Andy, besides being a trained fighter pilot, has a first-class degree in maths.
Above all, my ambition is for the Bloodhound project to be a catalyst for the next generation of British engineers.
It really is critical that we inspire young girls and boys to think about engineering as a career. We need engineers in aerospace, in power generation, in defence. We need them to design and build the infrastructure for a low-carbon planet.
Like Concorde or the Large Hadron Collider, the Bloodhound SSC car is the kind of iconic creation that will excite students.
We know that, in the US, the manned space programme caused a surge in science PhDs – the so-called Apollo Effect. This project can do the same for science in this country. For one thing, there was no YouTube in the 1960s, no Twitter, no blogging – none of these dynamic channels for connecting with people.
Indeed, harnessing the power of new social media to attract the scientists and engineers of the future points to a defining feature of Bloodhound – and my second reason for why this is such an important endeavour.
For if the project is innovative in terms of educational engagement, it also has to be innovative in terms of the science necessary to exceed 1,000 miles per hour on wheels. A car moving faster than a speeding bullet. A lot faster.
To achieve that 30 per cent increase in speed will require the largest hybrid rocket motor ever built in this country. Major advances in sensor technology to control the car. Fresh thinking on fuel efficiency. Brand new design for the solid wheels generating a radial acceleration of 50,000G.
Given the dynamic pressure on the car, its body needs to be as tough as a submarine. It must maintain a constant wheel load as it accelerates towards Mach 1.4. It will have to overcome the problem of incoming airflow hitting the upper surface of the wheels at Mach 2.8.
This is a massive exercise in R&D, involving up to 300 British firms and universities. We can only imagine the scientific discoveries and commercial opportunities that might result.
There are clear precedents for ventures like Bloodhound fuelling such discoveries.
It's worth recalling, for example, the significance of the Schneider Trophy in the early 20th century for promoting the development of the aviation industry. A designer called R J Mitchell helped to win the 1931 trophy outright at Cowes. The insights he gained contributed directly to the airplane with which Mitchell will be forever associated, and which visitors to this museum can explore: the Spitfire.
In a similar way, ThrustSSC, the precursor to Bloodhound, itself played an important role in developing British expertise in computational fluid dynamics – which will again be crucial to the success of the new record bid. And it demonstrated the power of the internet in its early days to create a global community of enthusiasts, whose contributions to the Thrust SSC attempt were substantial – in terms of finance, technical know-how, and in kind.
Over the coming months, the Bloodhound SSC will evolve through a number of design iterations – and we'll all be able to watch what happens.
This isn't like Formula One, where design is unfortunately shrouded in secrecy. This is genuine open innovation. When things go well, children will witness them first-hand, and others of us can follow online. If there's smoke coming out of the engine, we'll see that too.
And that's the point. The project is both transparent and inclusive. People will get to see science and engineering in action – the breakthroughs and the false starts.
From a personal perspective, I've known about the plan to set a new record for over 18 months. I'm delighted that we can now reveal that the project is going ahead – and that there may be competition from other countries like America and Australia. Competition will generate further interest, and it's good for science.
As a passionate advocate for UK science and innovation, I'm thrilled that the Bloodhound project captures the spirit of the science and society agenda, where we're seeking to engage the public and boost the numbers moving into STEM-related careers.
It also epitomises, of course, the vision of our White Paper, "Innovation Nation" – making Britain the best place in the world to formulate and deliver new ideas.
It only remains for me to wish Richard and Andy, the engineers and support staff, the companies and research outfits, the very best of luck as they attempt to write another chapter in the history of the land speed record.
When the first record was set in the late 19th century – at a modest 39 miles per hour – there were bicycles that could go faster. In the early 21st century, there's every prospect that the Bloodhound team will reach the absolute speed limit for a car on wheels.
I can't wait to see what happens.
Thank you.
