The Bloodhound SSC, Britain's 1000mph world land speed record challenger, has successfully been driven to more than 200mph this afternoon as first part of its first phase of testing.
The test, which can be watched as a replay in the video below, saw the world's fastest man of the past 20 years, Wing Commander Andy Green, at the wheel for the first time.
Stream provided by Bloodhound SSC
Green and his team ran the jet and rocket-powered car up to and beyond 200mph, using its EJ200 Eurofighter engine on the main runway at Newquay Airport, Cornwall, and pushing it to maximum reheat - or afterburner - phase. The two runs, each of which will saw the car accelerate from zero to 200mph in just 1300 metres, have been used to evaluate the car's steering, brakes, suspension and data systems, while also measuring the efficiency of the air intake that feeds the EJ200 jet engine, sourced from a Eurofighter Typhoon.
Now that the tests on Newquay's 1.7-mile runway have been completed, the Bloodhound team plans to ship the vehicle to a specially prepared track for the first of two high-speed campaigns in 2018. The team plans to use the 11-mile track at Hakskeen Pan in north-western South Africa, but told Autocar that it would be open to use another location, should new sponsors request it. For this run, the car will be driven to more than 600mph.
If this run goes successfully, backers hope to top 800mph in 2019 at Hakskeen Pan, beating Green's previous mark (set 20 years earlier, on 15 October 1997, in Thrust SSC) of 763.065mph. To do this, the car's jet-rocket will need to produce 13 tons of thrust - four more than was needed in today's 200mph run.
Then, in 2020, the Bloodhound crew will add extra rocket motors to ramp power up to 20 tons of thrust an attempt to set a 1000mph land speed record - the project's ultimate objective. Thrust for this will exceed 20 tons, which Green told Autocar was equal to the power all nine RAF Red Arrows Hawk aircraft produce combined.
"Our first target at Newquay will be first to make sure all systems are working properly," said chief engineer Mark Chapman earlier this year, "and then to run tests to decide the speed at which we can apply full throttle. Jet engine intakes are designed to work best at speed, and there's a threshold at which they can accept full throttle. It's important to know it because it affects how much track you use up before the car can start accelerating in earnest."
Project director Richard Noble, himself a former land speed record holder, called the Newquay runway trials "the biggest milestone in the history of the project so far", because they provide the team with their first opportunity to rehearse the procedures that will be used for Bloodhound's serious record runs.
Noble said the Bloodhound team also see the runway trials as a way of thanking the schools, students, families and companies that have supported their project, which stalled for almost a year due to a shortage of finance until Chinese car maker Geely - owner of Volvo, the London Taxi Company and now Lotus and Proton - agreed to become Bloodhound's "lead partner" and finance the 1000mph project to its conclusion.
The exact speed Bloodhound achieves at Newquay will depend on its ability to stop, says Chapman. For the first tests, the car will be equipped with carbon disc brakes and wheels with Dunlop rubber tyres from an English Electric Lightning fighter aircraft, but for the higher-speed runs - during which the wheels will turn at up to 10,200rpm, or 170 times per second - it will have solid aluminium wheels, because rubber tyres would not hold together.
At that speed, said Chapman, a 1kg bag of sugar would weigh 50 tonnes. When Bloodhound's full power - the equivalent of 180 Formula 1 cars - is deployed, the car is designed to go from 0-60mph in less than a second, reaching 1000mph in 55sec.
Spectators planning to attend Bloodhound's public days must purchase tickets, which are available at bloodhoundssc.yourticketbooking.com. Numbers are limited.
Read more:
Bloodhound SSC land speed record attempt postponed
