Plan B Forum

The world’s most powerful racing car will be unveiled publicly for the first time today.



The 1,000mph Bloodhound will go on display at Canary Wharf in London and 8,000 people are expected to see the supersonic racer.

It is hoped that the £10 million UK-built car will shatter the world land speed record, which currently stands at 763mph, when it is tested at full speed.

The Bloodhound will undergo 200mph trials next year at Newquay Aerohub in Cornwall before embarking on a series of high-speed runs in a desert venue in South Africa. At full speed the car will cover a mile in just 3.6 seconds.

Andy Green is the current record holder having achieved the feat in Thrust SSC at Black Rock Desert in Nevada in 1997.

Now aged 52, Green will be driving the Bloodhound whose project director is Richard Noble, who was also project director for Thrust SSC and who was the driver of Thrust 2 which broke the land speed record in 1983.

The supersonic car, which has been assembled at Avonmouth, near Bristol, is the result of eight years of research, design and manufacturing involving more than 350 companies and universities.

It has three power plants – a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of Nammo hybrid rockets and a Jaguar V8 engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump.

Between them they generate 135,000 thrust horsepower, equivalent to 180 F1 cars. The pencil-shaped car will be 44ft (13.4m) long, 6ft (183cm) in diameter and weigh 7.5 tonnes.

Members of the public will see the Bloodhound in its land speed record attempt configuration with its two metre high tail fin – required for stability at high speed – in place for the first time.

Engineers have partially removed the carbon fibre panels from one side of the vehicle in order to show off the technology inside.

Visitors will also get the chance to look inside the finished cockpit – a huge and complex monocoque crafted from multiple layers of carbon fibre – and see the sophisticated digital dashboard.

Mr Noble said: “Public interest in the project is incredible and thanks to the generous support of our partners we are delighted to able to bring Bloodhound to London and put it on show.

“With the car now built and the track in South Africa prepared our focus is on racing in 2016.

“That part of the adventure starts with runway tests at Newquay Aerohub next Easter.”



Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Blo ... z3mdXwW5EV

The Bloodhound supersonic car has been fired up for the first time - and worked a treat.



Engineers turned over the vehicle's Eurofighter jet engine in a "tie-down" test at Cornwall's Newquay airfield on Friday.
It worked flawlessly, sending a big orange flame out of the rear nozzle.
The intention is for the car to begin some "slow-speed" running - about 200mph (320km/h) - at the end of next month.

The team had been concerned that the Rolls-Royce EJ200 power unit might have some operational difficulties being in a car as opposed to sitting in a fighter aircraft.
But when driver Andy Green flicked the switches in his cockpit, the engine lit up and performed exactly to its specification.
It was proof also that all the car's electronic systems, its computers, and software were working as designed.

"It's blown us away, frankly," Wing Commander Green told BBC News.
"It's given us huge confidence going forward. We now know the engine has no limits just because it's in a car. It is an EJ200 with the full performance envelope available to us, under all conditions, from stationary onwards."


http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41446557

Jarlaxle wrote:... I wonder if Craig Breedlove will build another Spirit of America...