The global land speed record has always been a subject of popular interest around the world. In 1997, when the British-made Thrust SSC went supersonic in its attempt to break the land speed record, many thought that the final frontier for overland acceleration had been achieved when it clocked in an astounding top speed of 1,228 km/h.
It seems that the British are not content with letting things be – a new team led by Richard Noble (The project director of Thrust) is working on new supersonic car, aptly named Bloodhound, to beat Thrust’s record.
The Bloodhound was displayed at Canary Wharf in late September, where an estimated 8,000 people viewed what is being dubbed an engineering marvel, the secret of Bloodhound’s immense speech lies in a triumvirate of power sources.a. This includes a Rolls Royce EJ-200 jet engine (which powers the Eurofighter Typhoon) working in tandem with a hybrid rocket motor designed by Nammo from Norway and a supercharged V8 engine from Jaguar. As the jet engine and the rocket will generate the estimated 21 tones of thrust needed to reach 1,609 km/h, the V8 will pump liquefied oxidiser into the rocket’s fuel chamber.
To ensure that they can withstand the pressures of its planned supersonic run, the Bloodhound’s wheels have been specially sourced from the iconic BAC-Lightening fighter jet. No wonder then, Bloodhound’s total weight amounts to a whopping 7.5 tonnes.
Bloodhound is now in its final stages of construction and the team hopes to start conducting test runs soon so that engineers can give a final go-ahead to all electrical and mechanical systems before its record breaking attempts can begin.
Whether Bloodhound manages to break the world land speed record or not, the £57 million project has unquestionably become an icon of British national pride. The car is now included in the ”Great Britain” campaign that is being used by the current government to promote the UK to overseas investors.
By Tariq Ziad Khan