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Gautam Sharma4 Oct 2012
NEWS

Bloodhound SSC fires up for record attempt

British-backed car aims to not only shatter the world land-speed record, but also break through the 1000mph barrier

The Bloodhound SSC, conceived to break the world land-speed record and push through the 1000mph (1600km/h) barrier, notched up a milestone yesterday (Wednesday, October 3) with the test firing of the car’s rocket system in its entirety.



The world land-speed record is currently held by the ThrustSSC, which clocked 1227.986km/h over a standing mile at Black Rock Desert on October 15, 1997, but the British-backed Bloodhound SSC aims to obliterate that mark in South Africa late next year.



The pencil-shaped projectile, which is powered by a jet engine and a rocket, has now been under development for four years and the latest test is said to be the biggest rocket firing in the UK for more than 20 years, and the most accessible to the public since the early stages of NASA’s Apollo programme as it was streamed online at bloodhoundssc.com/rocket.



Wednesday’s rocket firing was the first of four tests, each building closer to a full power test, at which point the rocket will make 25,000lbf of thrust for 20 seconds.



If all goes according to plan during next year’s world record attempt, the Bloodhound SSC’s Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine will propel the car to 370km/h, at which point its pilot – Wing Commander Andy Green (the same bloke who took the ThrustSSC to its world record) – will begin the rocket firing sequence. 



During the record attempt, Green will lie feet-first in the Bloodhound SSC and as the car accelerates from 0-1600km/h in 42 seconds, he will experience a force of approximately 2.5g, causing the blood to rush to his head.



To slow down, airbrakes will deploy at 1300km/h and parachutes at 970km/h. Disc brakes will be used below 400km/h. As Green decelerates, experiencing forces of up to 3g, the blood will drain to his feet and he could theoretically black out.



Green has been conditioning himself for these unique demands by flying upside-down over the British countryside in a stunt aircraft.



The Bloodhound SSC project was announced on 23 October 2008, and one of its driving forces is Richard Noble, engineer, adventurer, and former paint salesman, who himself reached 633mph (1019km/h) driving the turbojet-powered Thrust2 across the Nevada desert in 1983. 



In 1997, he headed the project to build the ThrustSSC, driven by Andy Green, who broke the sound barrier (the first time this feat had been achieved in a land vehicle) on his way to clocking 1227.986km/h.



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Written byGautam Sharma
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