As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, Britain’s role in the development of modern engineering cannot be underestimated. It is a shame therefore that the inspiring engineering past and present seems lost to a majority of the population. Luckily it is becoming increasingly fashionable again as the country looks to secure its future by dealing in something more tangible than the money markets.

In the past it was the great civil engineering challenges that captured the country’s imagination — bridges, railways, enormous buildings and the like. These days wrought iron and red brick is unlikely to create the same interest (for shame). So how can the engineering community help to reignite the spark of interest in all forms of engineering?

At TCT Live this September you will be able to see two excellent examples of attention grabbing engineering eccentricity in action — The Bloodhound Project and Project Torpedalo. Both have very different mission statements: Bloodhound is primarily an educational project; Torpedalo is primarily a fund-raising project. They both deal in impressive numbers however, as you can see in Table 1.

Both projects are technically challenging, both require human physical resilience, and both demonstrate why Britain is still a global power — simply put there is nothing that we won’t have a go at regardless of how ludicrous it sounds, and when we put our minds to it there’s nothing we can’t design, develop and manufacture.

You are an intelligent, informed and optimistic reader of TCT, so I know that you know that engineering and manufacturing in the UK is very much alive and kicking — take the TCT Live and Interplas shows for example: both will be bigger in all regards than the last time you saw them, with more space, more exhibitors and more visitors.

At the entrance to the show you’ll be able to see a full-size mock-up of the Bloodhound car (much bigger than you’d think) and the actual Torpedalo boat that will be pedaled across the Atlantic (much smaller than you’d think!). Both project teams will be there too, so you’ll have the opportunity to find out why the 9–5 desk job just isn’t for them!

In the mean time: check out the progress of Project Torpedalo on pages 57 and 59, and by following them via @torpedalo on Twitter; keep up to date with the goings-on at Bloodhound via @BLOODHOUND_SSC; and ensure you’re fully prepared for TCT Live by visiting the website www.tctshow.com and following @TCTLive.