THE team behind the supersonic Bloodhound car set students a challenge to teach them about science and technology.

The education team from Bloodhound SSC, which is hoping to smash the land speed record, visited information technology students at Banbury and Bicester college.

They set them a task involving using computer codes to program a small robot to remove a “rocket” from a model car.

The task was designed to teach them the sort of skills required should they became engineers and perhaps inspire them to work on a future supersonic car themselves.

Student Jamie Nicol, 19, said: “We have done this sort of coding before, but it is good to apply it to a practical project.

“It gives you a better understanding of how much programming goes into projects and the problem solving involved.

“Things don’t just work straight away, you have to keep going back and refining the code and testing the impact on what you want the robot to do.”

Gerry Heather, from the Bloodhound education team, said: “One of the key objectives of the Bloodhound project is to inspire the next generation about science, technology, engineering and maths.

“Projects such as this help students understand the importance of coding and the role of robots in real-life scenarios.

“Working with college students is important, as these young people will soon be coming into the industry.

“Robotics, telemetry and programming are so important to the future of the IT and communications industry and we are showing young people how these skills are applicable to a range of roles.”

Designed and constructed in the UK, the Bloodhound SSC project has been set up specifically to break the 1,000mph speed barrier for the first time on land.

During their trip to South Africa, the team will attempt a speed of 800mph in the desert, and based on its success will then schedule a 1,000mph record attempt.

The record is currently held by British pilot Andy Green who reached 763mph in the Nevada desert in 1997.