Dave Hancock
Bloodhound SSC40" x 80"  One of my all time childhood heroes was land and water speed record breaker Donald Campbell. This isn't about him but that snippet of information gives the clue as to why I should feel the need to do something for the current British assault on the Land speed record. In 1997 Richard Noble's Thrust SSC car, driven by Andy Green, broke the sound barrier. A feat that to date has not been repeated. This time around Richard and the team are doing more than simply building a fast car. They are building an educational programme to inspire young people to become involved in engineering. Thousands of schools around Britain have now signed up and are benefiting from this unique interaction with cutting edge research and development.
As the project depends on sponsorship and private donations it seemed to me that a wider audience could be found outside the world of engineers and petrolheads by utilising not science and maths but paint and emotion. The idea being that you don't have to understand it to be thrilled by it.
Oh, I forgot to mention how fast they wanted to go. After all, when you have broken the sound barrier once how hard can it be? Well think one thousand miles per hour and you just might begin to understand the enormity of the challenge they have set themselves.
I have donated this painting to the Bloodhound SSC project in the hope that it will help them raise more funds and more profile.
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