amazing cars

You can see students at Kennet Secondary School, in Berkshire, race their own model rocket cars. The event took place at the school last month, and there was also a launch event at the Edinburgh College Midlothian Campus.

The Bloodhound Project – a team trying to set a new land speed record of over 1,000mph – have partnered with Microsoft, The British Army, Buckingham Palace and a number of other organisations to run a national competition, which invites other schools in the UK to run their own Rocket Car race.

The full title is: “Race for the Line” BBC micro:bit Model Rocket Car Competition.

The teams will build their rocket cars, collect real time telemetry data and race them, to see who can build the fastest car. The fastest cars from across the country will take part in a national final on June 30th.

“The whole idea of this project is to get kids excited by science,” explains Mark Chapman, Bloodhound’s Chief Engineer. “And there’s nothing more exciting than building a car yourself, putting a rocket in it and firing it across your playground. My kids have done it and their eyes were like dinner plates!”

There is also a blog post with information about the BBC micro:bit Model Rocket Car Competition. Note this also includes how other schools can get involved – see Calling all UK schools for the BBC micro:bit Model Rocket Car Competition

Top Three teams will win

• 1st prize – £1,000 for the school and a team VIP trip to Newquay trials of Bloodhound SSC, before the car deploys to South Africa for its record breaking race programme.
• 2nd Prize – £500 for the school
• 3rd Prize – £250 for the school