Construction on Bloodhound ’supercar’ to begin this week
By ANITuesday, February 8, 2011
LONDON - British engineers will this week begin construction on what they hope will be the world’s fastest car.
Called Bloodhound, it’s designed to reach a record-breaking 1,000mph.
The British car will attempt to set the mark as it breaks the land speed record on a dried out lake bed in South Africa’s Northern Cape late next year.
Bloodhound has been in design for the past three years. It will be powered by a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine bolted above a hybrid rocket.
Following a design period of three years, the construction of the car, powered by a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine paired with a hybrid rocket, is expected to be ready to begin ‘low-speed’ trials on a UK runway in the first half of next year.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to be handing over the drawings to the people who will now build the car,” said chief engineer Mark Chapman.
“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,” he told the BBC.
If it achieves 1,000mph, Bloodhound will surpass the world land speed record set by the Thrust SuperSonic Car in 1997 (763mph; 1,228km/h).
Three people who worked on Thrust are also engaged in the Bloodhound project.
They are driver Wing Cdr Andy Green, project director Richard Noble and chief aerodynamicist Ron Ayres. (ANI)
