World's fastest car to inspire engineering careers

16:48 27th January 2009

The world's fastest car is to be assembled in the UK and toured around British schools in a bid to inspire children to pursue engineering careers.

The car - known as Bloodhound - will eventually be tested in the Nevada Desert where it is hoped it will reach a speed of 1,050mph in just 40 seconds.

Before that, the car will be taken around a selection of schools in the UK where students may be inspired by the upcoming record attempt to take programming courses or IT training in the future to help them enter a similar field.

The team behind Bloodhound said: "[We are] endeavouring to be the catalyst through which young people will acquire the skills and develop innovative talents that will enable them to overcome the challenges we all face on a global scale."

They added that inspiring young people to train as engineers would help the UK and the wider world to address a range of important technological questions that would arise from a crabon economy.

Thrust2 held the land-speed record for nearly 15 years between 1983 and 1997.