Customers of Kellaway Building Supplies are being offered an opportunity to take part in the Bloodhound SSC land speed record bid through an exclusive competition to design their field HQ compound.
Over the next 12 months, the Bristol-based supersonic car will be constructed and tested in the UK, with the land speed record being attempted at the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa during 2014.
Kellaway customers are being offered the chance to come up with designs for the team accommodation in South Africa for the duration of that record-breaking run.
Chris Parker, sales development and marketing manager for Kelloway, explained: “We’ve been keen supporters of the 1,000mph Bloodhound project since 2010 and we’ve helped them out before with building supplies for their Bristol workshop. So when the team mentioned their accommodation needs in South Africa we felt sure we could tap into our customer expertise to come up with some innovative design solutions.”
The building will need to house the Bloodhound car and workshop, accommodation for the team and their visitors and provide them with running water and electricity – no mean feat in the middle of the desert. The building will also have to contend with the possibility of sandstorms, flash floods and extremes of temperature from over 40°C in the day to –2°C at night.
When the record attempt is over, the team will need to be able to dismantle everything and leave the desert as if they’d never been there.
Mr Parker said: “It’s quite a challenge, so the team at Bloodhound have come up with some great prizes for our winners including a VIP visit to the Bloodhound Technical Centre, a model of the car and a special Bloodhound Crew jacket. Winners will also have their names put on the tail fin of the car and receive credit to spend at Kellaway. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of the competition is that ideas from the winning entries could well be incorporated into the final design.”
With a predicted shortage of scientists, engineers and mathematicians in the UK, one of Bloodhound’s key aims is to inspire young people to choose to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at school and university. Alongside production of the car, the Bloodhound project is equally committed to its exciting education programme for schools and colleges that brings science and engineering to life.
Mr Parker added: “We’d love our customers to work with their children on ideas for this competition so they can see how learning at school can be used in a real life project.”
