Take Your Own Path: Virtual Talk with Dan Bigham

On 17th June our KS4 and KS5 Physicists had a unique opportunity to meet a world record breaking, professional cyclist and aerodynamicist for a careers talk.

Dan Bigham hosted the virtual talk in between his European race schedule; a fantastic chance for our students to see how Physics is applied to performance and sport. He made a brilliant case for the importance of inquisitive exploration, taking risks and trusting science.

Having studied motorsport engineering and worked in Formula One for Mercedes AMG Petronas, Dan took his knowledge and experience to the sport of cycling. Setting up his own track cycling team, Dan challenged and beat the established track cycling nations at their own game by employing his process to create high performance: reverse engineering. Starting with the end goal, the team worked back to engineer the result they needed. The success speaks for itself: multiple UCI Track World Cup Golds, World and Commonwealth championships, and world records.

Dan has just written his own book, 'Start at the End', which details his strategies for success which can be applied to many aspects of life such as school, business as well as sport.

During the Q&A session, Dan was able to answer questions ranging from Formula One technology to university advice.

We are very pleased to have hosted this talk and would like to thank Dan for sharing his experiences for the benefit of our future engineers, athletes and physicists at the International School of Moscow.