Source A: The record on the salt track

An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.

We had built the bicycle inside a smooth shell shaped like an enormous seed. At the salt track, with the wheels hidden, it looked less like something a person could ride than something which should arrive from the future. A photographer asked the rider to stand beside it with folded arms. We had not yet completed a full run, but the picture already looked victorious.

Our aim was a speed record. It was not a cure, a rescue or a journey anybody needed to make. We wanted to learn how far our design could go, and we wanted the number beside our team’s name. I see no reason to disguise that second desire as something nobler. Records can give an experiment a clear test. They can also tempt people to keep changing the meaning of a warning until it sounds like encouragement.

On the second morning, the rider reported a vibration at a speed below our target. We found a loosened mounting, repaired it and prepared another run. The vibration returned. The sensors gave us useful information, but not enough to identify the cause confidently before the afternoon wind rose. Our sponsor’s film crew was due to leave that evening. The producer asked whether we could make just one fast run for the cameras.

Just one is a small phrase which can contain a great deal of pressure. The track was available, the rider was willing and months of unpaid work sat inside the shell. None of those facts explained the vibration. I wrote the unresolved question on the test sheet and recommended that we stop. For several minutes, nobody spoke to me about anything except the weather. I wished the wind would rise immediately and make the decision for us. It did not.

We packed the machine away without a record. In the workshop, the data helped us find a problem we could reproduce and change. That was progress, though it was difficult to put on a poster. The sponsor used footage of the shell being closed and a short interview in which the rider explained why we had stopped. Fewer people watched it than anyone had hoped.

Next season, we intend to return. I still want the record. But I want a result which answers the question we actually tested, not a photograph which persuades people that the question has disappeared. If we fail safely and learn something definite, the day will have done useful work. The number can remain blank until we have earned the right to write it.

Source B: Explorers or boys messing about? Either way, taxpayer gets rescue bill — Steven Morris

Read Source B in the official Pearson anthology (printed pages 8–9).

Compare how the writers present their ideas and perspectives about how ambitious achievements should be judged.

Support your answer with detailed examples from both texts, including brief quotations.