Welcome

Following in the footsteps of the McLaren F1 is, let’s face it, a truly unenviable task and one that most would shy away from. But a little over a quarter-century since the F1 broke cover, McLaren, inspired by the demands of one particular customer, has returned to the iconic three-seat configuration with a limited run of 106 Speedtails to match the F1’s production run. Featuring a hybrid drivetrain delivering 1036bhp, 0–186mph in a blistering 12.8secs and with a top speed of 250mph, the Speedtail is the fastest McLaren road car of all time, or only 7mph faster than the F1, depending on which way you look at it. At 17ft long and featuring a raft of new materials including two new formulations of carbon fibre, gold (18 carat white gold this time) and cutting-edge aero, it arrives with huge shoes to fill. Our deep dive into the latest McLaren in the Utimate Series starts on p64.

But as were we in the studio poring over the details and perfecting our technique to get in and out of the central driving seat (it wasn’t pretty), news reached us that Bloodhound SSC, the project aiming to hit 1,000mph on land, had been placed into administration. We found this more than a bit depressing.

For us, Bloodhound SSC represents the very best of British ambition, engineering and pioneering spirit, and while it would be easy to question the need to go that fast, if you do, I fear you’ve rather dramatically missed the point. The Bloodhound was as much about the journey as it was the final destination. Like all the best projects, the scale of its ambition, the engineering challenges and the discoveries made along the way have served to inspire and engage the next generation of pioneers, dreamers and problem solvers through its educational outreach programme, which has reached over two million children. Dig into the figures involved, the forces experienced and challenges posed and you begin to see Bloodhound for what it was... the world’s most engaging science and engineering experiment, with chaos theory maths thrown in for good measure.

With manufacturing increasingly under threat, as a nation we need to dig into our pioneering spirit, to engage and inspire our future leaders in technology, engineering and design. We need a “because we can” mentality, and sometimes it takes a Eurofighter Typhoon engine combined with a solid rocket booster and 11 miles of desert to do that.

As it stands, the team need £25m to get out to the Hakskeen Pan, inspire a generation, dominate the headlines, experience what 1,000mph on land feels like and plant a very large Union Jack in the record books. To put that into context, it’s less than a sixth of the sponsorship Sir Ben Ainslie has just secured for his attempt on the America’s Cup in 2021, a mere drop in the ocean of a Formula One budget and less than 10 times the annual governmental biscuit bill.* All of which are worthy causes... (well, apart from the biscuits) but do rather serve the point.

The Bloodhound story cannot end here, it needs and deserves a backer, someone e brave enough to challenge new boundaries, inspire a generation and d put the Great back into Britain.

Enjoy the issue, e,