It’s hard to imagine a car going 1,000 mph but there is such a vehicle currently in the works and it just passed a milestone on its way toward breaking the 763 mph record set 15 years ago. Thrust SSC has just completed a successful test of the rockets that they hope will push the Bloodhound SSC past the sound barrier.
This is a car that’s so fast it’s powered by not just an engine, but by the combination of a rocket, a race car engine and a fighter jet afterburner all working together. These pieces have been used in rockets and in race cars before, but the combination is entirely new and unique to the Bloodhound SSC.
The engine is just one of the things that’s unique to the car. It can’t run on any old pair of tires at 1,000 mph so instead it has 200 pound circles of aerospace aluminum that are capable of absorbing 50,000 times the force of gravity. The car also requires a very special driver trained to handle this incredible machine.
The job falls to Andy Green, a wing commander who flies jets in the Royal Air Force. This isn’t his first time behind the wheel of something this fast. Green is the guy who set the first record back in 1997 so he knows exactly what he’s in for with the Bloodhound SSC.
The team at Thrust SSC conducted a test-firing of the rocket portion of the engine by attaching it to a test-rig and setting it off in a bomb-proof military hangar in Aerohub, Newquay Cornwall Airport. The whole event lasted just a few seconds, but the rocket performed exactly as hoped, paving the way for additional development and testing.
During the test, the rocket produced 14,000 pounds of thrust at over 17,500 rpms which, although impressive, isn’t enough to break the record. They’ll eventually need 27,500 pounds of thrust which they’ll gradually build to over the coming months. That’s the equivalent of about 80,000 horsepower.
The team behind the car aims not only to break the record, but to inspire and educate the next generation of kids to look at engineering careers. Their website has detailed information on the development, testing and goals of the project and great resources for schools and kids looking to learn more.
If all continues to go as planned, expect to see the Bloodhound SSC attempting to set a new record in a dry lake bed called Hakskeen Pan in South Africa’s Northern Cape sometime in 2014.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. When not drooling over cars, Nicole writes for Wired’s GeekMom.
