Thursday 23rd October 2008

1000mph Bloodhound

Andy Green is back, seems that 763mph just isn't fast enough

---

A 1,000mph British attempt on the Land Speed Record has been cooked up by current and former holders of the record, Andy Green and Richard Noble.

This time the target is to top 1,000mph with a car powered by the engine from the latest Eurofighter Typhoon, topped off by a rocket that apparently uses an 800bhp MCT V12 racing engine as its fuel pump.

Wing Commander Green OBE intends to sit in a tiny cockpit at the front of this surface missile, and hopefully hang on for the couple of back-to-back 1,000mph passes required by the adjudicators. 1,000mph equates roughly to four football pitches a second, by the way – or 500 metres for the sportingly challenged.

It’s twelve years since Andy Green bagged the current record of 763.053mph at the Black Rock Desert in the US, a heroic effort that generated amazing in-car footage and commentary of the fastest powerslides in history as Green battled to keep his car – Thrust SSC – on the straight and narrow. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vHnNxMJLfvA

The latest challenger is named Bloodhound, after the first surface to air missile that project aerodynamicist Ron Ayers worked on. The car will be continuously developed to meet the 1,000mph target, starting with an 800mph bid in 2009, 900mph in 2010 and 1,000mph in 2011. Although a venue has yet to be chosen, the Bloodhound team has already earmarked 14 possible desert sites. Black Rock may be ruled out as the annual Burning Man festival has apparently damaged the surface too much.

The project is described as an ‘engineering adventure’ as much as a speed challenge, and is partially aimed at re-igniting interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics among young people.

Join the fun at www.bloodhoundssc.com

 

 

[zooooom]

Does this guy never rest on his laurels ?
Good luck to him and his team a true BRITISH petrolhead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7685049.stm

[fatboy b]

Kinda pi$$es on the Amercian project a little bit!

[CommanderJameson]

And in true British fashion, will it be made in a shed out of bits bought at B&Q?

[filski666]

Good old Richard Noble - he just can't put the LSR down can he!

[chim666]

filski666 said:

Good old Richard Noble - he just can't put the LSR down can he!

After hearing about it on radio 4 and BBC TV this morning, I noted that nothing was said about the LSR requirements of 'over a measured mile and return within an hour' so is it an LSR attempt or an outright land speed attempt as an engineering project?

...just noticed this on the BBC report "...front wheels are steerable to comply with land speed rules" so I guess it will be a 'proper' LSR attempt.

Edited by chim666 on Thursday 23 October 08:12

[clonmult]

fatboy b said:

Kinda pi$$es on the Amercian project a little bit!

That is just a bleedin' Lockheed Starfighter with wheels!!!! Cheeky gits!

[illmonkey]

CommanderJameson said:

And in true British fashion, will it be made in a shed out of bits bought at B&Q?

Which isle is the Typhoon-Eurofighter jet engine in your local B&Q?

Mine dont seem to stock them!

[Eric Mc]

This project will be EXTREMELY difficult and highly dangerous. I feel that Thrust SSC was about as fast as it is possible to go on land.

[mitzy]

Saw it this morning on TV.

Sod that for a game of soldiers, god he must get through lots of pants!
700mph the last one wasnt it ?

[Eric Mc]

763 mph.

[dave_s13]

How can they justify spending 10m quid when there are starving kiddies in India??

[Eric Mc]

I think the key to that question is the source of the money.

[Mr E]

Eric Mc said:

This project will be EXTREMELY difficult and highly dangerous. I feel that Thrust SSC was about as fast as it is possible to go on land.

Which was probably said by someone after every single new record was set.

[Eric Mc]

Mr E said:

Eric Mc said:

This project will be EXTREMELY difficult and highly dangerous. I feel that Thrust SSC was about as fast as it is possible to go on land.

Which was probably said by someone after every single new record was set.

I accept that but when you see the effort that was required for Thrust SSC I really doubt the ability to go through all that again. Thrust received massive "semi-state" sponsored aid in the assistance of the then Defence Research Agency at Farnborough - including use of wind tunnels, the runway at Farnborough, hangar facilities at Farnborough and supersonic rocket sleds at Pendine. The DRA is now a commercial operation (QinetiQ) and I don't see them getting heavilly involved this time around.

[filski666]

Good luck to em - I did a concept design and feasibility project for a 1000mph LSR vehicle at university, it isn't just a case of taking SSC and adding more power.

I used a pair of RR Olympus 593 engines for power and used vectored thrust for stability and steering

[scorp]

Mr E said:

Eric Mc said:

This project will be EXTREMELY difficult and highly dangerous. I feel that Thrust SSC was about as fast as it is possible to go on land.

Which was probably said by someone after every single new record was set.

It surely must be getting dangerous, what happens when you hit a pebble or something at those speeds ?

[Dakkon]

Eric Mc said:

Mr E said:

Eric Mc said:

This project will be EXTREMELY difficult and highly dangerous. I feel that Thrust SSC was about as fast as it is possible to go on land.

Which was probably said by someone after every single new record was set.

I accept that but when you see the effort that was required for Thrust SSC I really doubt the ability to go through all that again. Thrust received massive "semi-state" sponsored aid in the assistance of the then Defence Research Agency at Farnborough - including use of wind tunnels, the runway at Farnborough, hangar facilities at Farnborough and supersonic rocket sleds at Pendine. The DRA is now a commercial operation (QinetiQ) and I don't see them getting heavilly involved this time around.

Well they do seem to have a fair amount of MoD support as they are loaning them the engines.

But as the BBC article says, if it will inspire the next generation of children get get interested in Maths and Science it is no bad thing.

[uriel]

Just last week I watched a documentary that I downloaded, I think made by the BBC, that covered the history of the LSR attempts. It was a pretty good film with lots of interviews with the guys that did it.

I was amazed by the work done by Art Arfons in particular. It's crazy the things that he acheived with jet engines from aircraft scrap yards working from an old tin shed.

I can't remember what the programme was called, but I'd recommend it to anyone...really captured the "right stuff" spirit.

ETA: It was called In Search Of Speed, The Battle Of Bonneville.

Edited by uriel on Thursday 23 October 08:54

[ceebmoj]

www.bloodhoundssc.com


The official sight if people are intrested. 5 yeas or so I when to a lecture in Glasgow IEE by the head engener from the thrust SSC program it was very interesting however you did get the feeling that it was all a bit cobbled together. Projects like this are great good luck to them.

[Eric Mc]

The BBC have done a few good docs on this topic over the years. Of course, in more recent times, with its makeover/gardening/ feminine feelie type approach to life, it has ignored such sensible "blokey" programmes".

They did a documentary narrated by Tiff Needell not long after Thrust SSC broke the record. There is also an older Raymond Baxter programme and, of course, one of the episodes of the excellent "The Power and the Glory" series also covered the LSR.

Edited by Eric Mc on Thursday 23 October 09:00