Thornbury pupils race balloon-powered cars with Rolls-Royce engineers and world speed record breakers

Pupils from Manorbrook Primary School were tasked with the challenge during their design technology and science hot spot day on Friday, January 23.

Pupils from the whole school got involved with the challenge, working in mixed aged classes in teams of three to make a car powered by balloons.

The children then tested them out to see which could travel the furthest distance, through class races and the winning car from each class went into a whole school grand final, with seven cars in total.

The day was supported by a team of eight engineers who work for Rolls-Royce and are also ambassadors for the Bloodhound SCC project, which is designed to build a car that will break the 1,000mph barrier and set a new world land speed record.

Headteacher of the school, on Park Road, Angela Evans said: “The children had great fun and learned a lot. They asked some fantastic questions and really thought about their designs.

“We are very grateful to the engineers who came in to help us and will be watching out for more information about the Bloodhound car and the World Land Speed record attempt.”

The winning car created by pupils travelled the length of the eight metre stage during the final.

The engineers from Rolls-Royce taught the children about how they could improve their cars by thinking about thrust and drag and the children enjoyed making these improvements to their cars before the final race.

The pupils also learnt about the Bloodhound SCC high-technology project car and its challenge to beat the world land speed record in South Africa later this year by reaching 850 mph within a 12 mile race track and in 2016 they will try and reach 1000 mph.

The project aims to inspire children about science, technology, engineering and mathematics while setting a new World land Speed Record of 1000mph.

To find out more visit www.bloodhoundssc.com/project.