I've been lucky enough to land what is for me a dream job. Last year I joined the Bloodhound SSC team as their film-maker, photographer and artist. It's been a fascinating time and I've met many inspirational people and it's a real treat to chat to team members who have been through it all before. The educational side of the project is admirable and it's been great to see children building balloon cars and being shown how much fun STEM subjects can be - over 5000 schools have now joined the programme!
Now that I've found this forum I'll post occasional updates when we reach some of the big milestones. if you'd like a more in-depth look I've started a gallery for some of the photos I've been taking...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefanmarjoram/sets/72157627819481179/... and the films I'm making can be found on the website -
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/I'd also like to wish the best of luck to all the other teams that are out there - I'm really looking forward to seeing how the projects progress - and how they tackle some of the things we've come up against.
I'll leave you with a few photos. First off, a detail of the EJ200 jet engine which will used to get the car up to about 300mph...
We're using a Cosworth Formula 1 engine to drive the pump which will force the HTP into the rocket. This is the gearbox that will link the two...
Ron Ayers, our chief aerodynamicist brought in this model of Thrust SSC. It's solid metal, covered in sensors and was attached to a rocket sled to measure the pressures on the car at supersonic speeds...
Here's a quick sketch of the rocket test-rig which left the building today. There will first be some runs with de-ionised water and providing that all goes to plan they can move on to the firing of Britain's biggest ever rocket...
Lastly, here's a picture of me sitting at the wheel of another Land Speed Record car - the FIAT S76 from 1911. 4 cylinder, 28 litre, it was known as the Beast of Turin and sadly never managed to set an official record despite reported runs of over 130mph...
