British engineers design 1,000mph car for land speed record
Britain’s car industry may be struggling to set the world alight but the talent is clearly still there. And it’s now being utilized to develop a supercar designed to reach speeds in excess of 1,000mph (1,600kmh). The car is codenamed Bloodhound and it could break the land speed record and the 1,000mph barrier by 2011.
The British have a great track record of breaking the land speed record, having set the fastest time in a wheeled vehicle multiple times in the past 75 years. The record is currently held by Andy Green, a Wing Commander with the RAF. In 1997, he drove the Thrust SSC jet-powered vehicle to a mind-blowing 763mph (1,228kmh). But the Bloodhound could blow that record out of the water.
According to BBC News, the development team has now settled on a final design for the Bloodhound. And it looks to me like a cross between a jet fighter plane, a bobsleigh, and something from Speed Racer.
The project was actually launched in October 2008 but it’s taken until now for a final design to be settled on which can deliver the speeds wanted while remaining stable. This is especially important as Green will be strapped into the vehicle feet first and propelled to speeds only experienced by jet fighter pilots. So it’s a good job that’s what he does for a day job.
The Bloodhound unsurprisingly has some serious hardware under the hood. There is a 1000kg Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine, a 400kg rocket and a third engine designed purely to pump fuel through to the rocket. These combined will produce around 135,000 horsepower, or 180 Formula One cars.
The car will be built in Bristol’s docklands area with 2011 targeted for a land speed record attempt. This will take place on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape Province in South Africa. The whole project is expected to cost around £15 million ($25 million). Sponsors include Lockheed Martin and Intel.
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