Bloodhound SSC aiming for 1000mph

Published Oct 2, 2015

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Bedminster, Bristol - Nearly seven years after the Bloodhound SSC project first announced its plans to not only break the world land-speed record, but also crack the 1000mph (1 609km/h) mark right here in South Africa, the British team has revealed a near race-ready version of the pencil-shaped streamliner.

The 13.5 metre-long and seven-ton Bloodhound was revealed in its final form at an event in London last week with much of its carbonfibre bodywork left off to expose its complex inner workings, as well as the finished cockpit where fighter pilot and current record holder (at 1228km/h) Andy Green will sit on his way to the sound barrier... and then some.

The Bloodhound’s drivetrain, which comprises a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine (from a Eurofighter Typhoon), a cluster of hybrid rockets supplied by Nammo (a Norwegian/Finnish aerospace and defence firm), and a supercharged Jaguar V8 engine which will serve as a fuel pump to feed a hydrogen peroxide oxidiser into the rockets, totals an output of more than 100 000kW. This is more than every car on the current Formula One grid put together. Eight times more actually.

CRITICAL SYSTEMS

Inside Green’s carbon-fibre monocoque cockpit is a set of instruments custom made by Rolex and designed by the pilot himself - and these are just the failsafe back-up clocks in case the three digital dash screens fail. When decelerating from his runs, of which there need to be two running in opposite directions within one hour to qualify for the record, Green will need to know precicely when and at what speed to hit the brakes, and here there are three critical systems including deployable air-brakes (as on passenger jets), parachutes, and somewhat conventional wheel disc brakes, which will be used in that order.

Also on board the supersonic car will be seven fire extinguishers (you know, in case things get hot), 500 system sensors (double that of an F1 car), and 12 video cameras including two in the cockpit so that fans around the world can ride along with Wing Commander Green, who carries the call sign ‘Dead Dog’, during his passes.

SOMETIME IN 2017

The Bloodhound team has missed several deadlines in the run up to its proposed record attempts, but at the moment it seems sometime in 2017 is the target. Project director Richard Noble has confirmed that slow speed (320km/h) runway tests will happen in the UK in April 2016.

Preparations for the actual record runs are ongoing in the Northern Cape, where a team of workers has already collected more than 16 000 tons of stones by hand from the 20km long, 500 metre wide track on Hakskeen Pan. The Bloodhound team has also employed Cape Town-based survey company Lloyd & Hill to laser scan the entire track using new technology to measure surface smoothness. This complicated process involved four billion data collection points over eight million square metres, and has revealed that the biggest bumps or dips are only 50mm from average elevation. The survey also shows a very slight slope (around 300mm over 16km) over the Hakskeen track’s north/south span.

Star Motoring

Follow Jesse Adams on Twitter @PoorBoyLtd

 

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