High Performance

Scientists and engineers are everywhere - they’re track-side at Formula One, they’re the driving force of endurance rallies, they keep our aircraft safe in the skies, and they unravel the mysteries of particle physics. At High Performance you can meet motorsport engineers, fuel chemists, particle physicists, military engineers and a Red Arrows team manager. You can chat to the eco-racing team hoping to win this year’s World Solar Challenge, and see their radically redesigned solar race car. You can also meet a team of high-school students who build and race their own electric cars, and see one of their vehicles for yourself.

Besides all this, you can find out about some of history’s greatest innovators, and take part in our engineering-themed workshops. If you love cars, helicopters and accelerators - actually, if you just love cool science and awesome engineering - then High Performance is for you!

The festival celebrates extraordinary women in science and technology to mark International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March.   

Scheduled events

Antenna Live

8-10 March 11.00-13.00 and 14.00-16.00

At this double-billed Antenna Live festival, the Science Museum hosts guests from two hi-tech racing teams - Viridity GRT and Cambridge University Eco-Racing.

Viridity GRT and Greenpower Education Trust will showcase an electric kit car built from scratch while the Cambridge contingent will demonstrate technology from their latest World Solar Challenge car.

Drop in, suitable for all ages

Locations: Cambridge University Eco-Racing - Antenna gallery, ground floor, Wellcome Wing:
Viridity GRT - High Performance Race Space - first floor

ScienceGrrls on a Soapbox 

8-10 March 11.00-13.00 and 14.00-16.00

ScienceGrrl is a network of (predominantly) female scientists who are passionate about passing on their love of science, technology, engineering and maths to the next generation. You'll find ScienceGrrls stationed throughout the museum during the festival, stop them to find out who they are and what they do!

Soapbox location: Between Exploring Space and Making the Modern World galleries, ground floor

Make it Move Workshops

Invent Event

9-10 March 11.00-12.00 and 13.30-14.30

Inventors wanted! We challenge you to use your problem-solving skills and build a mystery object. Think you've got what it takes? Find out during this drop-in workshop...

Drop in, suitable for ages 7+

Duration: 15 minutes
Location: High Performance Race Space, first floor
Capacity: 50 per session

Mumford Bug Derby

9-10 March 12.00 and 14.30, Saturday and Sunday

Power, speed, or a cunning combination of both? Find out what it takes to win a race over level ground and hilly terrain in this minicar-building workshop.

Sign-up on the day, suitable for ages 12+

Duration: 45 minutes
Location: High Performance Race Space, first floor
Capacity: 20 per session

Talks

8 March

Fuelling Formula One 12.00 and 15.00

Shell Technology Manager Dr Cara Tredget brought chemistry to the heart of Formula 1, developing fuels and lubricants for Ferrari’s Formula One team. She’ll explain how chemists are just as important as engineers when it comes to winning the race.

Drop in, suitable for all

Duration: 30 minutes
Location: Launchpad Briefing Room, third floor
Capacity: 50 per session

Atom Smasher 15.00

Professor Susan Smith directs the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) and heads the Daresbury Laboratory, where she leads the innovative ALICE particle accelerator programme. Find out how accelerators are changing your world.

Pre-book and drop in, suitable for adults

Duration: 30 minutes
Location: The Theatre
Capacity: 120

To book seats for this talk, please call 0870 870 4868 or 0207 942 4000 or inquire at the museum front desk.

9 March

Through Adversity to the Stars 12.00 and 15.00

Major Steph McKenzie commands 73 Aviation Company, 7 Air Assault Battalion REME - the engineering team responsible for maintaining the Army’s fleet of Apache helicopters.

Smoke... On... Go! Squadron Leader Ruth Shackleton is Team Manager for the Red Arrows - she keeps the world's finest aerobatic team flying head and shoulders above the rest.

This is a very rare chance to hear from the elite teams who keep Apaches and Arrows in the air.

Drop in, suitable for all
Location: Launchpad Briefing Room, third floor
Capacity: 50 per session

Breaking Barriers 13.30

"The idea of 'woman and science' is completely irrelevant. Either a woman is a good scientist, or she is not." Dr Patricia Fara, historian of science at the University of Cambridge, introduces the history of women in science and their relevance to our attitudes today.

Pre-book and drop in, suitable for adults

Duration: 30 minutes
Location: The Theatre
Capacity: 120

To book seats for this talk, please call 0870 870 4868 or 0207 942 4000 or inquire at the museum front desk.

10 March

Le Mans: Behind the Scenes, Behind the Wheel 12.00 and 15.00

Teena Gade is Event and Test Engineer with Skoda Motorsport’s rally team. Find out how Teena’s engineering know-how keeps rally cars, and their drivers, at the top of the motoring game.

In 2011, Audi Motorsport Chief Engineer Leena Gade became the first female race engineer to win the Le Mans endurance race. She won the race again in 2012, with the innovative Audi R18 E-tron Quattro hybrid vehicle. Find out how she did it - and what inspired Leena to her hugely successful motorsport career.

Drop in, suitable for all
Location: Launchpad Briefing Room, third floor
Capacity: 50 per session

Trail Blazer 13.30

In 2013, Jenny Body OBE became the first female president in the long history of the world's oldest aeronautical society. Find out how Jenny's amazing career trajectory in aviation and aeronautics took her all the way from ground level up to her retirement as one of Airbus UK's highest-ranking engineers.

Pre-book and drop in, suitable for adults

Duration: 30 minutes 
Location: The Theatre 
Capacity: 120

To book seats for this talk, please call 0870 870 4868 or 0207 942 4000 or inquire at the museum front desk.