Bloodhound on the land speed record trail

ONE THOUSAND MILES PER HOUR is the ambitious target for Project Bloodhound SSC(super sonic car) to set a world land speed record in runs planned for August 2011 at the Hakskeen Pan, in Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

The project, launched in October 2008, has now moved forward to the construction phase. Since it was launched, the car has progressed through 10 evolutions, and the team has now adopted the design that it will take to South Africa for the record attempt.

Project Director for Bloodhound SSC is Richard Noble, who set the world land speed record at 633.468 mph over a measured mile with his Rolls Royce Avon jet-powered car Thrust in 1983. Noble was subsequently Project Director for Project Thrust SSC in 1997 when Andy Green broke Noble's record. Green set two successive records in September and October that year, raising the record first to 714.144 mph and then to 760.343 mph in the Black Rock desert of Nevada. Green subsequently set a land speed record for a diesel-powered vehicle at 328.767 mph with the JCB Dieselmax car at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.