This week I met with former world land speed record holder Richard Noble at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Bloodhound SuperSonic Car exhibition in the House of Commons.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ is one of the key sponsors of Bloodhound SSC, which aims to break the world land speed record by reaching over 1000 miles per hour in the South African desert in 2015. It’s hugely exciting project which aims not just to break the land speed record, but inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers.
The exhibition enabled MPs to try and beat the land speed record – 1022.2mph. I managed 1020.5mph – briefly holding the top spot in Parliament!
But speed aside, the Bloodhound SSC project is an inspiring project that aims to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to boost our economy. It’s particularly crucial in places like Northfield, where we need take our area’s unique manufacturing heritage’s into the future by boosting young people’s skills and aspiration.
I want to encourage local schools and young people to get involved in engineering and STEM more generally, which are truly exciting and inspiring careers that will help our area Climb to the future.