Bourne Elsea Park Church Of England Primary Academy

Striving For Excellence, Caring For All In a Loving And Caring Christian Environment.

Engineered…In Bourne!

Author: Jill Bates

Engineered In Bourne – Saturday 23^rd September, 2023

It was a wonderful and sunny Saturday in Bourne and a selection of Year 6 pupils from both Bourne Elsea Park and Bourne Abbey had turned up to a very interesting event at the Bourne Corn Exchange, called ‘Engineered In Bourne’. This event had been organised in conjunction with the Bourne Motor Racing Club (BMRC) and Silverstone Museum outreach programme.

The first thing that greeted us upon our arrival was a very interesting set of cars on display – including an old Formula One car! Our interest was already piqued and it was soon time to head inside for a special presentation and talk about Bourne’s motor racing heritage and careers in motorsport.

The children sat engrossed as we found out about the amazing technology behind modern Formula One – we saw how light (and yet strong) carbon fibre is and got a fantastic explanation of how one of Lewis Hamilton’s old racing tyres uses friction to achieve the best possible grip. We then found out some amazing facts and stories about Bourne’s own, significant contribution to the motor racing world, including Graham Hill’s triumphant Formula One World Championship in 1972 with BMR.

At the end, there was a chance for our pupils to see all the exhibits – a personal favourite was seeing how long we could hold up a Formula One tyre! We liked imagining being a real-life pit-stop crew in the future, with Theo adding “they normally do these pit stops in 1.8 seconds!” This was a great event to see how the motor racing world supports a variety of God Given Talents – and to start inspiring the next generation.