From education to employment

Jetstream Ltd car would not have been possible without help from college

A revolutionary open-topped retro sports car, the Jetstream J1, hand-built by twenty motor vehicle students of Cornwall College, Camborne, together with a local company, went on official display at Birmingham’s Autosport Racing Car Show, this week.

For six months, the students were helping the directors from Jetstream Ltd assemble the jigs of the car, the tubular chassis sections, and paint the bodywork while studying for their technical certificates in vehicle body repair and refinishing.

The pioneering Cornwall based company, founded in May 2006, is set to create 50 new jobs over the next five years. It is also looking at developing another groundbreaking car model that runs on bio ethanol.

Praising the secret project of the students, Malcolm Faiers, a Jetstream director, said: “The students have helped us to create the prototype from nothing within six months. We would not be where we are today without the assistance we have had from the college. It has been vital to us.”

According to Nigel Jeffries, Senior Curriculum Manager, Automotive Engineering, Cornwall College, due to the partnership’s grand success the bigwigs of Jetstream have switched their industrial estate to Redruth from Falmouth in order to be closer to the College.

He added, “It is a fabulous opportunity for our students to get involved, and possibly to find employment as the company grows.

“We now offer a foundation degree in motor sport and the college will have a vehicle of its own to race, offering the opportunity for the students to be part of the driving team.”

Moreover, entrepreneurs have always believed Cornwall to be the choicest production site because the county is receiving “Objective One” funding from the European Union where maximum regeneration grants are available.

Designed by former Ford Europe design guru Brian Rossi, the two-seater road legal sports car boasts of a mid-mounted supercharged Ecotec engine developed by General Motors (GM) to meet the latest environmental standards, aluminium chassis and composite body.

The rear wheel drive car will be available in 205, 250 and 300 brake horsepower models with prices ranging from £27,000 to £35,000.

John Latham, principal of Cornwall College, said: “Our students and staff are gaining immeasurable experience from working with accomplished motor sport engineers, and we are already in discussions about our students working at Jetstream in the future.”

Nigel Tipple, chief executive at CPR Regeneration, the urban regeneration company for Camborne, Pool and Redruth, said: “This is a real coup for Redruth and what’s especially exciting is the link between education and business through the College, which is exactly what Cornwall’s new Convergence Programme will promote.”

Rinku Chatterjee


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