Jon Excell

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Bloodhound Supersonic Car successfully completes first public runs

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Bloodhound SSC, the supersonic British car designed to go at 1,000mph, has moved a step closer to its ultimate goal following the completion of a series of 200mph test runs at Cornwall’s Newquay airport.

In front of a crowd of an estimated 4,000 spectators, the vehicle, driven by RAF pilot Andy Green, completed two high speed trips up the airport’s 1.7 mile (2.7km) long runway, pushing the vehicle’s jet engine to full afterburner and accelerating to 200mph in around nine seconds.

As reported by The Engineer earlier this month (October 2017) the latest trials mark a key milestone in a dynamic testing process that will culminate in an assault on the world land speed record at Hakskeen Pan, a dried-out lake bed in South Africa’s Northern Cape at some point in 2019.

supersonic

The existing record of 763mph was set by Green in the jet-powered Thrust SSC vehicle in October 1997.  Bloodhound initially plans to push the existing record above 800mph before aiming for 1,000mph, a speed that the project’s chief aerodynamicist Ron Ayers believes may never be beaten.

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