Bloodhound SSC - first supersonic record attempt in October 2017

The driver

Driving Bloodhound SSC will be Andy Green, who already holds the current land speed record – having achieved 763mph in Thrust SSC in 1997. Bloodhound project director Richard Noble – himself a land speed record holder – says both car and driver have been developed together. “Andy is the only person who’s been supersonic in a car," said Noble. "It is highly spectacular, of course. It’s all about human endeavour and human progress.”

Noble describes stopping Bloodhound as being “the difficult part” of the challenge. “What we have is a low-drag, heavy piece of machinery travelling at 1000mph, so the kinetic energy is huge," he said. "Stopping it is actually more difficult than getting it up to speed.”

When Green reaches 1000mph, he’ll step off the throttle, allowing the car to slowly come down to around 800mph. Then he’ll activate an airbrake that deploys at a measured rate, putting around 3g of braking force through the car.

Once Bloodhound is travelling at less than 600mph, a supersonic parachute – which also acts as a back-up if the main airbrake fails - is deployed, bringing the speed down to 250mph. Once there, Green can then activate the car’s wheel brakes to come to a full stop.

The 36in forged wheels will be spinning at up to 10,200rpm during the car’s fastest runs, bringing the possibility of hidden stones being kicked up and into the car’s bodywork at breakneck speeds. To protect Green, composite ballistic panels developed by Morgan Advanced Technologies have been fitted to the car’s cockpit. The panels have already survived a 2000mph ballistics test to prove their integrity.

The record

To successfully break the current land speed record, Green must not only get the Bloodhound to achieve 800mph (and subsequently 1000mph) in one direction but also repeat the feat in the opposite direction within an hour.

Engineer Roland Dennison says the focus of the team waiting for Green at the finish of his run will be on getting the car refuelled for its second journey. “Everyone has to work on it,” he says. “We have to make sure it’s able to run within the hour. We have to change the rocket pack, refuel the 900-litre rocket fuel tank, possibly refuel the jet engine tanks and check all of the car’s systems are working. There’s not much spare time in there.”

In all, the Bloodhound team will spend around three months in the South African desert (most likely sometime later this year), collecting data on the car’s performance and culminating in its first record-breaking run to 800mph. At that point, the car and the team plan to return to the UK to analyse the data and prepare for the 1000mph run.

Having previously identified possible record sites in Australia, Turkey and the US, a 12-mile section of the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa was eventually identified as having the right conditions for the record attempt. The site is close to the Verneuk Pan, which was used for Sir Malcolm Campbell’s record attempt in 1929.

First test

The first test of both car and driver will come next Easter, when Green will pilot Bloodhound to 200mph at the Newquay Aerohub. “The first test is very important,” says Noble. “We’re getting to know our car and we’re getting to know how the team will work and maintain the car. It’s important that we get that work done at Newquay before we head to South Africa.

“There’s an enormous amount of research which has gone into this; it’s about 160 man years' worth. It’s a huge undertaking. You’re developing the car and the driver together."

Safety and education

A key target of the Bloodhound team has been to reach its 1000mph safely. Despite the inherent risks in reaching such speeds, Noble says the record attempt can be done in a controlled way. “The land speed record is one of the safest of all sports; there have been very few fatalities," he said.

“The few that have happened in the 1960s were of course spectacular, but back then the teams could not model their cars. In other words, they had no idea what was going to happen. We can model the car and we can compare that data with the research data and know that you’re safe.”

Bloodhound has also set out to inspire the next generation of engineers by visiting schools nationwide and setting up workshops and practical rocket challenges for children.

Project costs

The Bloodhound project will have cost around £45 million in total by the time the 1000mph record is set. Around £25 million of that funding has been spent on getting the car built, with a further £20 million needed to set the record. Most of the project’s funding has come from sponsorships and technical partnerships.

One of Bloodhound’s chief technical partners has been Jaguar, which is supplying support vehicles as well as the V8 auxiliary power unit. Among the support vehicles is specially modified Jaguar XJR which will act as a Rapid Response Vehicle. The 543bhp XJR was unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer, and features a bespoke fire suppressant system on board. Two of the XJRs – built by Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division – will accompany the Bloodhound team to the desert.

A modified version of the F-Type R AWD Coupé has also taken part in a high-speed communications test, as well as helping to test the supersonic parachute system. During the test the F-Type was driven flat out across South Africa’s Hakskeen Pan desert towards a fighter jet travelling at 500mph. The closing speed of close to 700mph allowed the team to test communications equipment.

The Bloodhound car was first revealed in model form in 2010, with the car's innovative rocket system first tested in 2012.

Anatomy of a land speed record attempt

Driver Andy Green will attempt to break the current land speed record of 763mph in 2016 using Bloodhound SSC. Here’s how he’ll do it.

1 – Green lines up Bloodhound along the 12-mile straight in the South African desert. He’ll engage the Rolls-Royce jet engine and slowly leave the start line.

2 – One running, Green will activate the jet engine’s afterburner, effectively dumping more fuel into the engine and dramatically increasing thrust. His speed will quickly increase to around 650mph.

3 – Green will activate Bloodhound’s auxiliary power unit, which takes the form of Jaguar’s supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine. The engine starts to pump rocket fuel into the rocket, which then engages with the thrust equivalent of around 2.5G.