The Bloodhound 1000mph Land Speed Record Project team has released the first instalment of design and build data for its jet/rocket-propelled car.
The team has been committed to an 'open source' approach to the project since its inception, as part of the drive to stir up enthusiasm for science and engineering in young people across Britain. Cutting edge technology projects of this calibre are usually shrouded in secrecy, they say, but the key aspect of the Bloodhound mission is to share the adventure - and all the data - with the biggest audience possible.
It's not quite all the data, actually, so in case you are an agent of a foreign power hoping for insights into the military rocket technology that's going to be strapped to the top of the car - go and do your dirty scheming somewhere else.
Project chief engineer Mark Chapman told us yesterday that the rocket innards, as well as precise details of some of the F1/motorsport technology employed have to be kept under wraps for obvious reasons. So you can download the official spec-sheet here, safe in the knowledge that PH won't be taking the rap for giving the Iranians access to an intercontinental weapons delivery system. (We've been blamed for worse things...)
As well as helping to support the project mission, Mark reckons the open source approach may also serve as a sort of 'peer review' process, whereby interested parties can take a look at the solutions the team has come up with, and perhaps offer useful feedback.
If you're not that interested in the millimetric dimensions of the car, don't worry - look out for another release in the autumn when we've been promised all the CAD drawings for Bloodhound. Meanwhile, we've got a fab new cutaway image to look at.