THE BRITISH Bloodhound Super Sonic Car zoomed in to Havering to inspire the next generation of engineers at a business enterprise event.

Secondary school pupils, college students and business leaders witnessed a piece of history in the making with a close-up view of the car due to make an attempt on the world land speed record in 2012 when it came to Havering College of Further and Higher Education.

The college welcomed Bloodhound Project Director and former world land speed record holder Richard Noble OBE along with the 13.4m lifesize replica of the Bloodhound SSC, designed to drive at speeds of over 1,000mph, to help ignite the interest of young people in science, technology, engineering and maths as part of National Colleges Week.

More than 90 teenagers from Havering schools were invited to the college’s Ardleigh Green campus for an exciting presentation by Richard Noble and the Bloodhound Project education team.

There were separate sessions for college students from across the curriculum including vocational, A-level and Higher Education courses.

Year 6 pupils from Ardleigh Green Primary School and Havering Mayor, Councillor Pam Light, also joined the event.

Richard Noble was the driver of the 1983 Thrust 2 which achieved the land speed record of 633mph and Project Director of the last 1997 world land speed record set by Andy Green in Thrust SSC at 763mph.

He said: “The skills of this country are diabolical. All the skills are in the 40 to 60 age range. We have really got to change the place. We have to get back to manufacturing. We have to get back to engineering and get this country back on the road.

“We run the Bloodhound Education Programme and now have 4,000 schools, colleges and universities on the programme. Our objective is to create a new generation of engineers.”

The actual Bloodhound SSC car is currently being built in Bristol by a team of 17 engineers. It will be tested on runways in Britain before driver Andy Green and the Bloodhound team head out to South Africa to attempt to smash the world land speed record.

The presence of Bloodhound SSC at Havering College was made possible by Protocol National, a sponsor of The Bloodhound Project and its official FE partner.

Serrenna Crick, 13, from Redden Court School, said: “I already knew a little bit about the Bloodhound car and really enjoyed the presentation.”

David Maclean, Director of Specialism at Abbs Cross School, said: “This was an excellent example where students could see the practical application rather than just learning the theory. It has been an outstanding event and I think it has really enthused these young people to pursue science, technology engineering and manufacturing.”

The SUPERsonic Roadshow also included a Bloodhound networking lunch for the region’s employers.