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Bloodhound on the hunt for land-speed world record (October 200


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Words - Gautam Sharma

Richard Noble and Andy Green announce plans to better their own towering speed record


The world land speed record hasn't been disturbed since October, 1997, but the protagonists responsible for setting the benchmark -- RAF pilot Andy Green and engineer/entrepreneur/adventurer Richard Noble -- have announced their plans to shatter their own milestone.

The vehicle for their next world-record attempt will be the bizarrely named Bloodhound SSC (Super Sonic Car) and the plan is for the three-wheeled, needle-nosed contraption to blast to 1690km/h (that's not a misprint) -- equating to 1050mph in the old scale.

If it was anyone else proclaiming their intention to perform such an outrageous feat, they'd be met with more than a hint of ridicule, but Noble and Green do have the benefit of runs on the board.

Noble himself touched 1019km/h in the turbojet-powered Thrust 2 across the Nevada desert in October, 1983, and he led the project to build the Thrust SSC, which Green piloted at 1233km/h in 1997.

Cracking 1000 miles per hour obviously involves overcoming immense frictional and drag forces, so it's no surprise to learn the design team has resorted to three sources of propulsion.

A prototype Eurojet EJ200 jet engine will accelerate the vehicle to 480km/h, after which a bespoke hybrid rocket -- designed specifically for the purpose -- will fire the Bloodhound up to 1600-plus km/h.

An additional 600kW petrol engine is used as an auxiliary power unit and to drive the oxidiser pump for the rocket.

The wheels on the jet-and-rocket-powered car, which will be 12.8m long and weigh 6.4 tons, will rotate at more than 10,000 revs per minute at peak velocity.

For now, the team has produced a scale model of the vehicle, which will be built in Bristol, in the UK.

The vehicle's configuration will have Green lying in a feet-forward position, and he'll experience an authentic rush of blood to the head as projections suggest the Bloodhound will accelerate from 0-1690km/h in 40 seconds -- subjecting his body to 2.5g.

During braking, he'll experience 3g, and the blood will drain to his feet and he could potentially black out (as the deceleration phase lasts 85sec). However, chances are he won't as he's been preparing for the exercise by flying upside-down over the English countryside in a stunt aircraft.
The Bloodhound team is said to be currently scouring the world's deserts in the search for a location that's perfectly flat for at least 10 miles (16km), as well as dry for at least three months each year.

Reports suggest the team has so far narrowed the hunt down to 14 sites -- eight in the United States, four in Australia, one in Turkey and one in South Africa.


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Dave