Name and Location
Bloodhound supersonic car (SSC) project, UK and South Africa.

Client
Founder sponsors include Swansea University, the Engineering and Sciences Research Council, the Serco group, University of the West of England and STP.

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

The SSC 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 will weigh more than 7 t.

The Bloodhound will have a slender, 14-m-long body, with two front wheels mounted within the body and two rear wheels mounted externally within the wheel fairings.

Value
R515-million.

Duration
The timeframe for the 1 600 km/h run will be 2016.

Latest Developments
The Bloodhound SSC, with Andy Green at the helm, will challenge the current world land-speed record in October 2017, the project team has said.

The current record of 1 277.98 km/h was also set by Green, in the Thrust SSC.

Following a funding crunch, the British Bloodhound team has announced that the recent signing of several “major deals” has meant that the Bloodhound project now has sufficient funding pledged to complete the car and start the countdown to high-speed testing at Hakskeen Pan, in the Northern Cape, in the second half of next year.  

With Bloodhound engineers now returning to the project, having taken short-term contracts elsewhere, a major programme of work to become race-ready will begin in earnest.

The car displayed in September 2015 was a trial-build vehicle, without fluids, done in part to check the fitting of more than 3 500 components.

Conventional motor manufacturers typically build several preproduction prototypes.

As there is only one Bloodhound, the project team used the trial-build car to determine if all the brackets were in the right place, key components were accessible for servicing and  one-off parts were manufactured to the correct tolerances.  

The team will now disassemble the 13.5-m-long vehicle, documenting the process in fine detail, to create the Bloodhound user manual.

Where necessary, modifications will be made and new parts manufactured before the Bloodhound is reassembled and transported to Newquay Aerohub for tie-down tests, with its EJ200 jet and Nammo rocket system in place.

The jet is a tried and tested component used by Rolls-Royce to develop the production engines for the Eurofighter Typhoon. 

The rocket is a new design, however, and further work will be required before engineers sign it off to be used in the car.

The Bloodhound will travel under its own power for the first time at Newquay in June next year, in a slow-speed (354 km/h) shakedown test.

This will also be an opportunity for the team to practice live-streaming data and imagery from the car, as a key aspect of Bloodhound’s mission is to share the adventure with a global audience.

By this time, the team’s rapid response and turnaround crews will have done extensive training to support high-speed running in South Africa. 

This will include rehearsing “the pit stop from hell” – an intense 40-minute period between timed runs during which the car will be checked, refuelled and made ready for the return leg.

This race within a race is crucial to setting a record. In 1997, a delay of just a few seconds cost the team the top prize during an early record attempt.

Two successful runs are required in opposite directions within one hour, and a new record mark must exceed the previous one by at least 1% to be validated.

With the shakedown test successfully completed, Bloodhound SSC will be loaded onto a CargoLogicAir Boeing 747 freighter to be airlifted to Upington. It will then be transported by road to the team’s desert base at Hakskeen Pan. 

Under the guidance of operations director Martyn Davidson, 16 container loads of equipment will have been shipped in advance, and a self-contained village, complete with workshop and TV studios.
 
“This is probably the biggest moment in the project’s history,” Bloodhound project director Richard Noble has said.

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

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Mettle PR on behalf of Bloodhound, Jules Tipler, tel +44 7811 166 796 or email jules.tipler@mettlepr.com.