by Dave Rowley
The BLOODHOUND SSC Project in South Africa has been developing steadily over the past 18 months with the run site, Hakskeenpan, being worked on by over 300 locals each day to provide the best high speed track in the World. The Project has now set its first World record with the clearance by hand of a 20 km long by 1.5 km wide track, equivalent to 24 million m², or 4,800 soccer pitches!
This work has been managed by the Northern Cape Province Department of Roads and Public Works and final grading has started following removal of the causeway road that provided access for locals during the rainy season. The new R31 road now gives wonderful access to Hakskeenpan from Upington and Namibia which is only a few kilometres away.
Picture above: Rudi Riek (Bloodhound track boss), Andy Green and Nico Fourie (NC director Department of Roads and Public Works) with some of the worst areas of shale dug out. Fortunately, these cover only very small areas.
Picture right: View from the hill adjacent to Hakskeenpan and a good vantage point to see Bloodhound run!
The Bloodhound Education Programme (BEP) is also now underway with many schools from the Northern Cape (NC) registered on the website following the setting of a Bloodhound Task Team by the NC Education Department. They have been promoting the arrival of BLOODHOUND SSC and the education programme and arranged for us to help launch Science Week in Kimberley and Upington.
Andy Green recently delivered the annual SAIMechE John Orr lecture in Johannesburg, Kimberley, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban to packed audiences of engineers, undergraduates, teachers, young learners and speed enthusiasts. The enthusiasm of the media, including TV, radio and newspapers to hear about BLOODHOUND SSC coming to South Africa was amazing, with a continuous round of invitations to explain what it will be like to drive at 1,610 kph (1,000 mph). This exposure prompted several large South Africa based international companies to ask how they could support the programme.
Andy also delivered several education presentations with a special day at Groot Mier Primary School, adjacent to Hakskeenpan, where he announced the partnership arrangement between the school and Harwood Meadows Primary in Bolton. This is the first formal partnering arrangement between schools from South Africa and the UK, and many more are expected to join over the coming two years. Although very different to schools in the UK, the enthusiasm to learn at Groot Mier was very evident and Bloodhound was the exciting lesson on the day with Northern Cape Premier, Mrs Hazel Jenkins, in attendance and pledging support for the Bloodhound Project.
The BEP was initially invited to attend Scifest Africa 2011 in May and deliver workshops supported by Science Made Simple who delivered the Bloodhound Roadshow that has been enthusiastically received in the UK and also now at Scifest in Grahamstown by thousands of learners. The partnership with Scifest also means we will be delivering a series of education workshops in the Western Cape to schools around Cape Town funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands early December.
The Bloodhound Ambassador Programme will be developed in South Africa along similar lines to the UK and organised out of Kimberley in the Northern Cape which will act as the education hub for the programme right across South Africa.
The setting sun over Hakskeenpan
