On 26 October, the project had its first public test on Cornwall Airport Newquay’s runway, where it reached speeds of more than 200mph, a fraction of its intended 1,000mph capacity. Contributors and donors hope it will reach the intended speed when it attempts to break the world land speed record in South Africa in 2019.
Chatham, Kent-based PressOn was commissioned to produce a decorative wrap for the tailfin of the vehicle – a Union Flag incorporating the 36,110 names of people, schools and other organisations that donated or contributed to the project.
“We were collaborating with the armed forces, businesses, schools and all sorts of people from all over the country,” said PressOn managing director Nigel Webster.
“It does feel like we are part of a very interesting project and it all feels in keeping with the British spirit of coming together for something bigger than ourselves.”
The flag design was put together using InDesign and scaled to fit the 3.2x1.8m substrate. Using an HP Latex 570 printer, it was applied to Avery MPI 1104EA cast white vinyl self-adhesive cast film using six colours – CMYK plus light cyan and light magenta.
The PressOn team works on the tailfin wrap
Once printed, the substrate was laminated using a Crest laminator and taken to Bloodhound's Bristol headquarters for application, where it was wrapped by PressOn staff in a single day.
Webster said he “kept a very close eye” on his installation team as they applied the job to the Bloodhound equipment.
At its test, the Bloodhound SSC made two trips down Newquay's 2.7km runway with RAF wing commander Andy Green in the cockpit.
Bloodhound SSC team member Tony Parraman said: “When we successfully completed our test at Cornwall Airport, Newquay, 10,000 people and the world’s media were watching.
“We called upon PressOn to print and vinyl wrap the fin of the car at short notice, as we also had to finish making the fin itself. They did a fantastic job, ensuring we did not disappoint thousands of supporters. The speed and efficiency with which the team wrapped the fin was incredible to watch, and they took a can-do approach when any problems arose.”
