A total of 422 learners, ranging in age from 8 – 18 and representing 25 schools across the Northern Cape, entered a competition to design a helmet for Andy Green, the man who will be in the cockpit of the BLOODHOUND SSC when it attempts to reach 1 000 mph on Hakskeen Pan.

“We were amazed and impressed by the range of concepts featured by the young designers, with images of speed, flames and animals featuring many times over,” says Dave Rowley, education director for the BLOODHOUND SSC Project in South Africa. “Andy was even nicknamed ‘Speed Boy’ by one entrant!”

“It was definitely not an easy task to design this helmet, as the young designers were asked to feature elements of the Northern Cape and include the blue and orange colours of BLOODHOUND SSC in their designs,” Dave says. “Furthermore they had to think of how their designs would look from all angles and then portray these onto the template that asked for front, rear, top and both sides to be depicted.

The 422 entries from South African are now on their way to the UK where a judging panel, including Andy Green, will consider them along with entries from school children in the UK. There will be two winners – one each from the UK and South Africa.

The BLOODHOUND education team visited schools across the Northern Cape to promote the competition, with support from the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley, and the Northern Cape Department of Education. Xerox in Kimberley supplied the printed entry templates.

Andy’s helmet will be seen around the globe when the car runs on Hakskeenpan – so this is a unique opportunity for a young artist from the Northern Cape to achieve worldwide visibility.