Construction of what is potentially the world’s fastest car, the Bloodhound, has started.

Bloodhound driver Andy Green hopes to break the current 763.035 m/h land-speed record, first with a series of test runs in 2014, followed by the grand finale in 2015, when the British team behind the record attempt will aim for the magical 1 000 m/h mark.

The record run will take place at South Africa’s Hakskeenpan, in the Northern Cape, one of the flattest spots on earth.

The Bloodhound is not any old car. It is a supersonic car, because it has four wheels and is under full control of its driver, while it is also designed to go faster than the speed of sound.

It is a jet- and rocket-powered car with a slender body around 14 m in length, with two front wheels within the body and two rear wheels mounted externally within wheel fairings.

It weighs more than 7 t and the engines produce more than 135 000 hp, which is more than six times the power of all the Formula 1 cars on a starting grid put together.

The Bloodhound is also a mix of car and aircraft technology, with the front half a carbon-fibre monocoque, similar to a racing car,and the back half a metallic framework with panels like an aircraft.

The car is being assembled at the Bloodhound Technical Centre, in Avonmouth, Bristol, in the UK.

The first metal for the manufacturing of components was cut back in 2011 and assembly of the car is expected to be completed in 2014.

“Now that the project is into the build phase, the biggest challenge is the management of the release of design detail to the hundreds of supporting companies to ensure the project always has the correct parts to support the build,” senior Bloodhound engineer Mark Chapman tells Engineering News.

“Probably the biggest remaining challenges are the ones we don’t know about yet. This is a one-off prototype vehicle, and the management of the ‘unknown unknowns’ keeps the day interesting.”

Also, as the Bloodhound supersonic car is a prototype, it will be developed all the way up to when the final record is set.

The engineering team on the building project numbers around 20, with an array of additional support from academia and industry.

The team is a mix of design engineers and stress and computer-fluid dynamics analysts, as well as a build team of highly skilled mechanics and technicians, says Chapman.

“Because Bloodhound is part racing car, part jet fighter, with a dash of spaceship, the breadth of knowledge and experience of the team is vital, drawing heavily from motorsport, defence and aerospace backgrounds.

“Looking at the build at the moment, I’d predict there is another 20 000 to 30 000 workhours remaining to have a car complete, tested and ready to ship to South Africa.”