Bloodhound
Bloodhound Senior Engineer and former FS competitor, James Painter, arrived on Friday 13 July to take part in the Business Networking Day which involved presentations from high profile companies such as Mercedes AMG, Ranstad Engineering, Mars Chocolate UK, and Delphi Diesel Systems. Each presentation detailed what the companies do, their services and products and how the students could get involved and work for similar organisations.
Some 70 students took time out of their busy schedule to attend James’s technical presentation on Bloodhound SSC, as he spoke about the Project, problems they have overcome as a team, issues they face and their vision for the coming year. As a former FS competitor himself, James highlighted how important the experience gained at engineering competitions such as FS is for your future; team work, maintaining good relations with suppliers and even the practical experience James has implemented whilst working on the 1,000mph car. The presentation was then opened to the floor as questions poured in from the captivated students about aerodynamics, thrust, how And Green has been preparing for the mission, amongst a host of more technical queries.
The students were further in for a treat when the full scale model car made an appearance the
following day, as Silverstone was opened up to the public. The car sat alongside the Institutions marquee where Bloodhound brochures, bespoke Institution-Bloodhound pens and engineering leaflets were available to those inspired by the Project. Amongst the FS team supporters, over 500 school children meandered through Silverstone visiting the garages, viewing the acceleration heats and stopping at the impressive Bloodhound car, eager to learn more. The high volume of school children was thanks to Institution member John Turton CEng MIMechE, who hosted an engineering day at Northampton School for Boys and offered them the opportunity to come along to FS for the day to see the exciting and different avenues engineering as a career can lead to.
The team from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden won this year’s Formula Student beating the electric car from Delft University of Technology by just 2.4 points. Monash University, based in Melbourne, Australia, took third place. 
Education animator and ambassador trainer at Bloodhound, Jo Finch, said of the day: "We were invited to Silverstone by the Institution for the Formula Student finals in support of the Institution sponsorship of the Bloodhound Project and our combined efforts in the promotion of the STEM subjects through exciting, cutting-edge engineering. Formula Student is a showcase for the inspiration which can be achieved through hands-on participation in a competitive field of engineering. It was a chance for us to share our project with the many other sponsor companies attending as well as a wonderfully receptive student audience.”
Read more about Formula Student: www.formulastudent.com