Bloodhound: 1,000mph Car Completes First Public Run and Plans to Smash Through Sound Barrier
Independent UK, 16 Nov 2017
The Bloodhound supersonic car, driven by Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Green, undergoes a test run at the airport on October 26, 2017 in Newquay, England / Carl Court/Getty Images
The vehicle is really a combination of a car and a fighter jet...
A British car that is expected to smash through the world record has been driven in public for the first time.
The Bloodhound SSC has been designed to reach 1,000mph and is something like a car combined with a fighter jet. But its first outing was a little less spectacular – though only by a little.
It sped from 0-200mph in eight seconds during the demonstration, spewing fire out of its back as it did so. It was driven by ex-RAF figher pilot Andy Green, who sped it along the runway at Cornwall Airport Newquay.
More than 3,000 spectators witnessed the exercise, which was used to prove the vehicle's steering, brakes, suspension, data systems and other functions.
The team behind the car say it is a combination of a fighter jet, a Formula One car and a spaceship.
Bloodhound SSC
The pilot – driver? – will be Andy Green who is aiming to break his own land speed record. Andy Green is the only man to have gone supersonic in a car but Bloodhound SSC aims to go far faster than Thrust SSC did when it set the current record in 1997.
So how do you get a vehicle to go that fast on land? Well, you need a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 producing 550bhp. But that engine, taken from a Jaguar F-Type, isn’t used to propel the vehicle. That’s just to pump fuel into the hybrid rocket.
The hybrid rocket is like you’d find in a rocket used for launching missions into space, and it has a relatively short, intense burn which is why it needs that V8 to pump in 40 litres of propellant every second. But that’s not enough, and that only comes in when the vehicle is travelling at hundreds of miles an hour already.
The British Bloodhound SSC
It is fitted with an EJ200 jet engine, sourced from a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
The car will attempt the break the land speed record in South Africa in 2019.
In 1997 Mr Green was the driver for the Thrust SSC team as they set the current record of 763mph.
Bloodhound SSC is designed to reach 1,000mph in a bid to set a record that cannot be beaten by existing technology.
Speaking after the Newquay test was completed, Mr Green said:
"We came here to show the world Bloodhound is go.
"I cannot think of a better way to do it than that run. Two back to back runs, the longest runs we've done, the highest speeds we've done, the most energy going into the brakes.
"The car just said: 'I can do all of this. I'm designed for supersonic speed but this I can do easily'."....
