Bloodhound SSC construction starts this week
After more than three years in the development process, the vehicle aiming to break the World Land Speed Record – the Bloodhound SSC – will enter construction this week.
The Bloodhound project is the work of a British consortium, and has been designed not to simply eclipse the current record – which stands at 763mph (1228km/h) – but smash past it at a speed of 1000mph (1609km/h).
The Bloodhound’s chief engineer, Mark Chapman, explained to the BBC that the road rocket would be constructed and assembled gradually between now and the record attempt in South Africa late next year.
“It's a fantastic feeling to be handing over the drawings to the people who will now build the car,” Mr Chapman said.
“It's a 'progressive definition release', which means as soon as we finish a design, it goes out the door. The first metal parts should start coming back to our design house in Bristol by Easter.”
The first component to be built is the Bloodhound’s steel-lattice rear chassis, with the designs sent to Hampson Industries just days ago.
There are a number of mind-blowing statistics linked to the Bloodhound:
- Its wheels will spin faster than any automotive wheel has ever spun before – up to 10,000rpm
- Its engine, a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, will deliver 200 kilonewtons of thrust and will be the biggest hybrid booster ever produced in the UK
- All that power is similar to a Concorde Olympus 593, although the Bloodhound will weight just six tonnes
- A Cosworth Formula One engine is required just to pump oxidiser through the engine
- The sprint from 0-1000mph is expected to take just 45 seconds
Before it attempts to break the World Land Speed Record at the Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape late next year, the Bloodhound’s engineers will put it through testing in the UK in the second quarter of 2012.
The man set to pilot the Bloodhound beyond 1000mph is Andy Green, the man who set the current record in the Thrust SSC back in 1997.
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