Pretoria - The startling and much talked about rocket-car, the Bloodhound SSC, is currently turning heads at a project exhibition at the University of Pretoria (UP).
The modular car on display inside the Merensky Library is creating a buzz among students and staff alike.
The Bloodhound SSC is a supersonic land vehicle currently in its final stages of development.
Its goal is to match or exceed 1609km/h achieving a new world land speed record. The pencil-shaped car, powered by a jet engine and a rocket engine is designed to reach that speed. It is being developed and built with the intention of breaking the land speed record by 33 percent, the largest ever margin.
Runway testing of up to 320km/h is scheduled to take place later this year. Bloodhound SSC will then be tested on the Hakskeen Pan in the Mier area of the Northern Cape, where a track 19km long and 3.2km wide has been cleared.
Marketing assistant director at UP, Elsabe Olivier, said: “The department of library services, in collaboration with Sci-Enza, is honoured to have such an auspicious exhibition on campus. It is creating a lot of hype.”
The supersonic vehicle weighs 7.5 tons and the engines produce more than 135 000 horsepower – more than six times the power of all the Formula 1 cars on a starting grid put together.
The project has been seven years in the making and has been a dream of former RAF pilot Andy Green, 51, since he set the record of 1228km/h, in 1997.
The car is on show until Friday at the Merensky Library at the University of Pretoria. Enthusiasts can contact Elsabe Olivier on 012 420 3719 for a free tour.
Pretoria News