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In 2019 the British-based Bloodhound SSC Project is not only seeking to break the land speed record, it is looking to smash it.
Back in 1997, Andy Green set the current world record at 763 miles per hour, but when he heads to South Africa with the Bloodhound team next year, Green is looking to be the first man to drive a land vehicle at over 1,000 miles per hour, reaching that speed after just 55 seconds.
The timed mile that Green completes will take just 3.5 seconds to traverse.
The fundamental challenge for the project is to develop new technology at a fraction of the cost of conventional space and aeronautical projects. Much of the research is part funded by government sponsored organisations who see spin-off benefits. Some design work is done by competitions, and all work is underpinned by a pragmatic approach. The Steering wheel for example became a design competition and the control switches are based on the well proven B&Q power-drill trigger switch. The titanium /aluminium wheels are designed as a simple discs (rubber would fly off) without a central pivot point. While not optimum, this is provided for in the innovative suspension design.
But the Bloodhound Project is about much more than breaking records and pushing the boundaries of technology. It is also about education and inspiring the next generation of engineers. The Bloodhound project’s main focus is to be a motivational program for young people, and this theme has underpinned all the project’s activities to date.
So far, some 3,500 children have watched the car’s first test run, while the Bloodhound team have been on tour visiting schools up and down the country.
Most recently it was the Scandinavian group of the IMechE in Oslo, Norway that were lucky enough to gain insight into the driving force behind Bloodhound at a joint event with Tekna (the Norwegian professional science and engineering organisation) and the British Norwegian Chamber of Commerce.
Mark Chapman, the engineering director of the Bloodhound SSC, talked through some of the engineering feats being undertaken as the team marches toward their record-breaking runs in next two years, including the recently announced (and Norwegian) Nammo space rockets that will provide the additional firepower needed to take the car past the speed of sound.
The rockets will be fed hydrogen peroxide at a rate of 10 litres per second in order to burn a rubber-like fuel to produce a total thrust of around 20 tonnes. At full power the combined power of the Nammo rockets and the main EJ200 jet engine will provide thrust equivalent to eight times the power of all the cars on a Formula 1 starting grid combined.
David Llewelyn, who helped organise the Oslo event, said the partnership that now exists between Nammo and the Bloodhound Project will provide a vital link between the UK and Norway that can help promote engineering in both countries.
“These partnerships are all about building trust and getting to know people. Norwegians have lots of great technology and they will make very focused and determined partners for the Bloodhound team, and such partnerships could be very important post-Brexit.
“Initiatives such as the Bloodhound project always lead to spin-off benefits for others, and with the Bloodhound team making all of their technology open source, that can only benefit the wider engineering community.”
Want to find out more about the Bloodhound SSC Project? View the full presentation from Mark Chapman, including a visualisation of the entire record run and film of the 2017 testing in Newquay