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 more than 1 600 km/h – faster than a speeding bullet. The current record is 1 227.9 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 its attempt to break the 1 600 km/h record in October or November.

Latest Developments
The Bloodhound LSR project is looking for a new owner to take the team to its world land-speed record attempt in 2022. 

In 2019, the Bloodhound team deployed to South Africa to conduct high-speed testing, with the car reaching a peak speed of 1 011 km/h, thereby proving that Bloodhound has real record-breaking capability, the team has said.

The Bloodhound team now needs to install the Nammo monopropellant rocket, enabling the car to reach a top speed of more than 1 287 km/h. 

Following this, the car may then again run on its specially prepared 19.2-km-long dry lake bed race track at Hakskeen Pan, in the Northern Cape, in an attempt to break the land-speed record.

The current world land-speed record is 1 228 km/h, held by Thrust SSC. The record was set in 1997 by a UK team, led by Richard Noble.

Completing the Bloodhound’s rocket installation and taking the car to South Africa to exceed 1 287 km/h will cost £8-million, based on the costs of the test programme to date.  

Current Bloodhound owner and CE Ian Warhurst bought the car at the end of 2018.

He says he has achieved his original objectives of “rescuing Bloodhound from the scrap heap” and ensuring that the team deployed to South Africa in 2019 to complete the high-speed test programme. 

However, the current economic climate brought on by the global Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted on fundraising and the project timeline. 

As a result, Warhurst is inviting a new owner to take over Grafton LSR, the holding company which owns the Bloodhound LSR project.  

The alternative would be to put the car into long-term storage, with no guarantee of restarting the project.  

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

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