Canisbay engineer's role in land speed record bid

AN engineering consultant from Caithness yesterday spoke about the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to get involved in the British bid to create a world land speed record.

John Blacklock, who comes from Canisbay, is part of the support team for the educational aspect of the ambitious project which is costing around £17 million. Its aim is to create a supersonic car which will travel at in excess of 1000 mph.

The car, called the Bloodhound, is currently being built in Bristol and is due to be completed by November when it will undergo a series of tests before attempting the record bid in Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape in South Africa next year.

It is hoped the vehicle will travel at over 1050 mph, set a new land speed record and smash through the sound barrier.

The Bloodhound is expected to cost around £12m to build while a further £5m is being used for educational purposes to try and interest more youngsters in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

John is one of a team of ambassadors touring the country with a 10-metre-long replica of the vehicle to generate interest in the project and the science behind it. He has been working with pupils and students in schools and colleges.

Fifty-year-old John has also been involved in desktop studies with schoolchildren looking at the logistics of taking the car to South Africa. He has been explaining how the team will get its water, electricity and food in the test area which is around 100 miles from the nearest village.

"It’s about trying to get the kids to think about the environment as well," John told the Caithness Courier.

The replica has been in various parts of the country and was in Inverness last month but has also been in Perth, Newcastle, Nottingham and London. In March it was at the London Docklands when it was seen by Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Andrew and Business Secretary Vince Cable.

The Bloodhound, which is powered by a fighter jet engine and a custom-designed hybrid rocket, will be transported to South Africa in May next year when it will be driven at speeds up to 800 mph. That would break the existing world record of 763 mph but in November it will try to travel at 1050 mph.

After the record bid the supersonic car will be taken on tour around South Africa and Britain before being housed in a motor museum in Coventry.

The team involved in her construction has spent five years developing the car’s aerodynamic shape. The project involves 70 different British partners, including such well-known companies as Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.

John will continue to be involved in the educational aspect of the initiative after the land speed record attempt.

The current land speed record is held by Wing Commander Andy Green, who will be behind the wheel of the Bloodhound next year. The project director is Richard Noble, who has long been associated with land speed records. He was in the Highlands last year to pay tribute to John Cobb who died attempting a water speed record bid in 1952.

John, whose parents, Gerald and Margaret Blacklock, live in Canisbay, was born in Caithness and attended Thurso High School before joining the Merchant Navy. He later graduated from Huddersfield University with a degree in computer engineering and worked with Rolls-Royce for 20 years. He is now a freelance consultant engineer and is based in Faslane at the Clyde Naval base.

John has two of a family – Jonathan who is 23 and lives and works in Derby and Nikita (21) who is studying fashion design in New York.

He is delighted to be involved in the Bloodhound project. "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A lot of British companies have come together to do this and, hopefully, it will leave a lasting legacy and result in young people becoming engineers and scientists," he added.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.