IT is designed to propel man along the ground faster than we have ever gone before.

But just as importantly, a campaign to break the 1,000mph land speed barrier is aimed at providing the rocket fuel to fire kids’ imaginations and get them interested in maths and science.

The Bloodhound Super Sonic Car Project is bringing together some of Britain’s best engineering brains in a bid to smash the land speed record.

Alongside that, it has been designed to help inspire the next generation of scientists, with all of the science involved being made open to schools that have signed up.

And the successor to project leader Richard Noble – the Winchester College-educated pilot who broke the land speed record in 1983 – could just come from Hampshire, if a session at Hordle Primary School is anything to go by.

With a little help from their parents, youngsters from the New Forest school designed and built their own model cars to put their engineering abilities to the test.

The mini-racers competed against each other for speed, distance covered and entertainment value, with the winners having the prestige of their names being added to the actual Bloodhound car.

The school has become involved in the project after parent James Read was inspired by a talk about Bloodhound given by Mr Noble at Beaulieu’s National Motor Museum.

“He inspired me and so I wanted to bring the project to my boys’ school.

“The central tenet is about education and trying to convert a relatively dry subject into something that’s really interesting and inspiring.

“How do I tell my children that maths is quite interesting and important if they don’t see something that’s inspiring them?

“The aim is to attract and inspire children through something that’s really sexy, that has a truly noble cause.”

Head teacher Fiona Adams said the added bonus she’s seen has been getting children learning with their parents, and even grandparents.

She said: “The fantastic thing has been to see how many extended families have been involved, and all the problem-solving they have had to do together.

“I really want them to see learning has changed a lot since they were at school and it’s fun and cool.

“From our perspective, this has been a great success. We’ve had a great response and there’s been some really impressive stuff going on.”