Name of the Project
Bloodhound Land Speed Record (LSR).

Location
UK, and South Africa's Northern Cape province.

Project Owner/s
Grafton LSR.

Project Description
The project involves the construction of, possibly, the world’s fastest car.

The Bloodhound LSR car is an amalgamation of car and aircraft technology, with the front half being a carbon-fibre monocoque, similar to that of a racing car, and the back half being a metallic frame, with panels like those of an aircraft. It is expected to reach a speed of more than 1 600 km/h.

The car, which is 13.5 m long and weighs 5.5 t, is powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and will eventually include a Nammo rocket.  The car will have two front wheels mounted within the body and two rear wheels mounted externally within the wheel fairings. The metal wheels are designed to rotate 170 times a second.

The front of the car is made from carbon fibre, while the rear is made from aerospace-grade aluminium and other composites to support the engine and, eventually, the rocket.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
R515-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The Bloodhound team announced in May 2018 that it expected to race in South Africa in 2019, slowly ramping up to tackle the 1 600 km/h record in October or November.

Latest Developments
The Bloodhound team is raising the necessary capital to progress into the final phase of its programme of attempting a new world land speed record in 12 to 18 months’ time.

Now that high-speed tests at Hakskeenpan, in South Africa’s Northern Cape, have been completed, the Bloodhound LSR car is being shipped back to the UK where it will be reassembled into 'desert spec' configuration. The team expects the car to arrive early in January, and it will then be reassembled at SGS Berkeley Green University Technical College, in Gloucestershire.

To set a new world land speed record, the Bloodhound LSR team needs to fit a rocket on the car.

Norwegian aerospace expert Nammo is developing a monopropellant rocket as part of a European Space Agency research and development programme, which will be the perfect fit for the Bloodhound LSR car, slotting easily into the vacant tunnel beneath the EJ200 jet engine.

The new rocket will use concentrated hydrogen peroxide, which, when passed through a catalyst, decomposes into water and oxygen, while generating the thrust needed to blast Bloodhound LSR into the record books.

During the most recent run, at a 16-km-long track at Hakskeenpan, the car reached a maximum speed of 1 010 km/h; however, the team’s focus was not on reaching a certain speed, but rather on testing the car in the desert conditions.

At the formal land speed record attempt, the Bloodhound will use three power plants: the current Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of Nammo hybrid rockets, and a 550 bhp supercharged Jaguar V8 engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump.

They will generate 135 000 thrust horsepower, equivalent to 180 Formula 1 cars.

The current world land speed record is 1 227.9 km/h, set by another UK team called Thrust SSC, which was led by Richard Noble, in a car driven by current Bloodhound LSR driver Andy Green.

The Bloodhound LSR team aims to set the record at 1 600 km/h – fast enough to outsprint a bullet.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Castrol (lubricants, brake and hydraulic fluids), Poynting (antennas).

On Budget and on Time?
Project Bloodhound is again active under new ownership, after having been briefly halted, owing to a lack of funds.

Contact Details for Project Information
Grafton LSR, email info@graftonlsr.com.