I think we can all agree that we love speed. We always look for ways to go faster and faster with our cars. The British have been hard at work breaking records for some time now, and it seems their latest attempt, the Bloodhound SSC, may be just the machine to push the limits of speed up past a whopping 1,000 miles per hour!
Is something like this even possible? If anyone can do it, its certainly the team behind this car. It has been over 117 years since the first land-speed record was set by a Frenchman in an electric car. Back then the record was only 39 miles per hour.
The Bloodhound Project
For 75 of the 117 years that there have been speed records, the British have held and surpassed their own results. If the Bloodhound does succeed, it will surpass the last record held by Thrust SSC which was able to reach 763 miles per hour in 1997.
This project’s team is composed of many veterans from the Thrust team, which means that such a monumental goal may yet be within reach. Ultimately, the goal is to reach 1,00 miles per hour. The fact that so many of returned for this next project is a testament to the focus that these drivers have on their ultimate goal.
The project first began in 2008 over seven years ago, but it is only now that the pieces of the car have been manufactured and are being assembled. This is being done at the industrial unit near Bristol. At this point the construction is almost complete.
The Bloodhound is schedule to be tested within a month before being sent to South Africa later in the year. The car will be tested on a 12-mile-long course centered on the Haskseen Pan, a natural salt flat that will make for a perfect stretch of land.
Here the car will attempt to hit the 800 mile per hour barrier before returning in 2016 to shoot for the 1,000 mph milestone. The fundamental aspects of the car have remained unchanged over the years, but the tiny details have been modified.
According to the original plan, the car will use both jet and rocket power to reach these speeds. It will be driven by Andy Green who was the same driver to break the last record in the Thrust in 1997. The main portion of the engine is the same, a Rolls-Royce EJ100 jet engine that is usually found in Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plans.
The rest of the power-train though has been modified. While the original plan was to create a hybrid rocket motor, that plan has been changed to use reusable motors manufactured by NAMMO, a Norwegian-Finnish aerospace company.
The 800 mph version of the car will use a single rocket motor, but the 1,000 mph variation will use three of them to achieve such a speed.
Impressive Numbers
Looking at the sheer power of the device, the numbers alone make it sound like something I wouldn’t want to drive, if only because it’s too powerful. The jet engine alone for example produces 20,000 pounds of thrust. The NAMMO engines each add a 27,000 pound amount of thrust to that number.
In its final form, the vehicle will produce a whopping 102,500 pounds of thrust. While the original idea to use a Cosworth Formula 1 engine was scrapped, a Jaguar V-8 supercharged engine will be used instead.
The headquarters where this beast is being built is held within a nondescript building between a kitchen-supply company and a crane-hire business. The chief engineer on the project, Mark Chapman, commented on the look of the vehicle:
“This is far closer to aeronautical than automotive engineering,” he said. The team has also been able to cut costs by purchasing used engines instead of brand new ones. The cost of a brand new one is millions of dollars, but purchasing one with roughly twenty hours of rated life left cuts the cost down to $15,000.
The first tests will be done using aircraft wheels and tires from a 1960 English Electric Lightning jet. When used in the desert, the team will switch to aluminum wheels which can handle the stress of a high-speed run.
The event will be live streamed, with a crew of over 100 people there to film the proceedings. If and when the Bloodhound SSC manages to break the 1,000 mph limit, that will be the maximum speed for some time. New developments in materials and wheels will help, but the biggest issue will come in the form of braking.
Andy Chapman explains: “It’s easy in principle to put on a bigger rocket and to accelerate faster. The problem is that you are relying on aerodynamics to slow the car down. That’s not a problem if you have an infinite length of track, but in Haskeen Pan we’ve found what we think is the largest suitable service in the world and we’ve only got 12 miles to play with.
You could go quick, there’s always a bigger rocket engine, but that’s going to give you more and more problems when it comes to slowing down. ”
I for one will be watching next year when the test is performed. I think they’ll make it, and it will be spectacular.
All images via Car and Driver
