So you thought travelling 1000mph (more than 1600km/h) in a supersonic jet was hardcore? How about attaining that same insane speeds on land then? Because that’s exactly what the Bloodhound SSC is aiming to achieve next year.
It has taken eight years of research, design and manufacturing to create the £13.5 million Bloodhound SSC and the unveiling in London attracted a sell-out audience of 8,000 people. Built at the Bristol Technical Centre, with parts from Rolls-Royce and Jaguar, the supersonic car has been created to beat the current 763mph (1227 km/h) land speed record. Its British makers plan to make their first attempt in a dried out lake-bed in Africa next year, and hope the car will be the first to reach 1,000mph.
The car will be driven by British Royal Air Force fighter pilot Andy Green who holds the current land speed record. Wing Commander Green was also the first person to break the sound barrier on land when he raced through the Black Rock Desert, USA in a Thrust supersonic car in 1997 (below). When the team races the car next year he will hope to shatter his current record.
Project Director Richard Noble said: “Public interest in The Project is incredible and thanks to the generous support of our partners we are delighted to able to bring Bloodhound SSC to London and put it on show.
“With the car now built and the track in South Africa prepared our focus is on racing in 2016. That part of the adventure starts with runway tests at Newquay Aerohub next Easter.”
The process of creating such an incredible vehicle involved input from more than 350 companies and universities.
To reach 1,000mph, the vehicle will need to produce about 21 tonnes of thrust (210kN). This will come from a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, working in tandem with a hybrid rocket from Nammo of Norway. The third power unit in Bloodhound is a supercharged Jaguar V8. Its job is to turn the pump that forces liquid oxidiser into the rocket’s fuel chamber. Between them, the three engines generate 135,000 thrust horsepower, equivalent to 180 F1 cars.
The pencil-shaped car will be 13.4m long, 183cm in diameter and weigh 7.5 tonnes.
The Bloodhound will undergo 200mph (322km/h) trials next year at Newquay Aerohub in Cornwall before embarking on a series of high-speed runs in a desert venue in South Africa. At full speed the car will cover a mile (1.6km) in just 3.6 seconds.
