Bloodhound SSC prepares to break the land speed record

The Bloodhound SSC project was announced nine years ago at the Science Museum in London, and it has now finally finished its first test run.

Information on the Bloodhound SSC trial run

This test was done at a closed air runway at the Newquay Airport, which is located in Cornwall. The enormous vehicle raced at speeds exceeding two hundred miles per hour. The team has set a goal of reaching the speed of seven hundred and sixty three miles per hour. This trial run is nowhere close to the end goal but it shows the world that the car is more than wishful thinking. At the end, the team want to reach a thousand miles per hour in the Kalahari Desert. The desert is in South America.

Background info on the Bloodhound SSC

The vehicle makes use of a jet engine for the thrust. The engine in question is an Eurojet EJ200. This engine is powerful enough to speed the car up to six hundred and fifty miles per hour. The final framework will have another rocket system integrated into it. It will be provided by Nordic aerospace company Nammo.

During the first attempt to break the record, the car will make use of a single monopropellant rocket. It will deliver up to forty kilo Newton of thrust. Once that is done, the rocket will be replaced by a hybrid rocket system that will work with the jet engine. Together, they can help the vehicle reach one thousand miles per hour. The total thrust will be two hundred and twelve kilo Newton’s of thrust. To put it into context, it will be 8 x the power given by the starting grid in Formula 1.

 

The Bloodhound will be driven by an RAF pilot called Andy Green. Coincidently, he was the rider who set the existing world record with the Thrust SSC all the way back in 1997.