WATCH | Bloodhound one step closer to world land speed record attempt

03 October 2017 - 17:07 By Nico Gous
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The team is currently testing at the Cornwall airport Newquay in Cornwall‚ England. On Friday‚ the team successfully started up their EJ200 jet engine which has been installed in the car.

Bloodhound driver Andy Green was in the cockpit throttling the jet engine with his right foot as sensors on the car confirmed the jet engine produced the expected thrust during maximum reheat.

“What a fantastic ending to the end of our first week of testing‚” said head of the Bloodhound engineering operations Stuart Edmondson. "Not only can you see the shock diamonds and hear the deafening noise‚ you can physically feel the power of the engine as your body shakes.”

The team aim to blast the Bloodhound SSC at 1600km/h to break the current world land speed record of 1227 km/h. They will now move on to dynamic tests in preparation for their trials at the end of October where they aim to reach about 322 km/h.

Communications director Richard Knight said that when they have completed the trials‚ they will focus on completing the development of the rocket that will used beside the EJ200 jet engine to power the Bloodhound.

Knight said the track at Hakskeen Pan is in "superb condition‚ with comparatively little work left to prepare it for record breaking".

The team is still raising funds to complete their car to desert standard. They will conduct two runway trials at the Newquay Airport on October 26.

On October 28 the event will be open to the public. It will include two 322 km/h runs. It will be available to watch on live stream as the feed from on-board cameras‚ including a 360° camera cockpit view‚ will be broadcast from the trials.


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