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wiggy001
2,960 posts
140 months
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One of the most amazing things about this project is surely the tiny budget they are working to. That seems to be too small by a factor of 10 to a layman like me!
Think about the budgets F1 teams have. And these guys are using an F1 engine as a fuel pump. The cheap bit!
Was a pleasure to see some of this up close as Goodwood this year and last.
Absolutely incredible.
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wedgeinald
834 posts
59 months
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The thing that puts the scale of this into perspective for me is the fuel pump.....
Which has a Cosworth Formula 1 engine JUST to pump the fuel.....
A brilliant project well worth supporting.
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Chicane-UK
2,593 posts
54 months
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Here's a question. How do they simulate 1000mph to the body of the vehicle to ensure that it will be stable and stay on the ground at that sort of speed? Presumably there is no wind tunnel anywhere on the planet that can push that sort of air through for such testing? Or are they having to do limited testing in wind tunnels, and using that information work the rest of it all out on computers?
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R500POP
5,923 posts
79 months
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We use CFD, basically a virtual wind tunnel.
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Chicane-UK
2,593 posts
54 months
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Ah  Thanks!
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nismo48
466 posts
76 months
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Excellent stuff..!!  405dogvan said: Let's not get this wrong here - Richard Noble and Andy Green would be our Gene Kranz and Neil Armstrong had we 'done' Apollo - but in a British and not an American way - with a budget slashed accordingly...
It's been said the engineers who made Apollo shudder when told of Concorde - because making a passenger jet fly faster than the speed of sound is a technical nightmare beyond sending people into space - and making a car, travelling on wheels, surpass 1000mph - is harder still...
The British way has always been to put it together in a shed and stand around looking vaguely uncomfortable as your creation does the impossible tho - it's great to see it continues.
Moreover, it's great to see the way they're using this to inspire a generation of engineers - that, alone, is worth the cost.
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gl20
183 posts
18 months
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What I find impressive (bordering on scary) about this is the targetted margin of improvement ie not talking a few mph/% improvement over the last record but around 30% if memory serves me correctly.
And an F1 engine for a fuel pump is one of my favorite trivia car facts ever..
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Zad
8,714 posts
105 months
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Two plucky Brits. No money. No resources. Result: An amazing and inspiring product that beats the world.
We have a bit of a record of doing this, because I'm talking about the ARM processor. 90% of mobile phones have them and they have quietly driven innovation for two decades (and made a huge amount of money). Not least in products like the Raspberry Pi, which was intended to sell a total of 10,000 but they are now struggling to fulfil demand of 100,000 a month. Good engineering does that.
We have seen how the Olympics has inspired people to take up sport, and has given the whole country a boost at a difficult time. Bloodhound can do the same for science and engineering. It needs industry to play it's part too though, and not leave all the training and experience for someone else to do.
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cossey
59 posts
58 months
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gl20 said: What I find impressive (bordering on scary) about this is the targetted margin of improvement ie not talking a few mph/% improvement over the last record but around 30% if memory serves me correctly.
And an F1 engine for a fuel pump is one of my favorite trivia car facts ever.. 31% to be precise
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nismo48
466 posts
76 months
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 cossey said: 31% to be precise
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R500POP
5,923 posts
79 months
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nismo48 said: cossey said: 31% to be precise Largest increase in land speed record history iirc.
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woody68
78 posts
66 months
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I was there yesterday and all i can say is Chris you have summed up exactly the days events If anybody would like to get involved here's the link you need http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/donate-joinMe and my son have been part of the 1K Club since the project launch back in 2008 and all he wants to be now is an engineer when he leaves school ...
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XTR2Turbo
1,354 posts
100 months
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Chicane-UK said: Here's a question. How do they simulate 1000mph to the body of the vehicle to ensure that it will be stable and stay on the ground at that sort of speed? Presumably there is no wind tunnel anywhere on the planet that can push that sort of air through for such testing? Or are they having to do limited testing in wind tunnels, and using that information work the rest of it all out on computers? I seem to recall that for SSc a scale model was fired down a rail at Penine Sands. I guess computers are cheap and powerful enough now to model.
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R500POP
5,923 posts
79 months
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XTR2Turbo said: Chicane-UK said: Here's a question. How do they simulate 1000mph to the body of the vehicle to ensure that it will be stable and stay on the ground at that sort of speed? Presumably there is no wind tunnel anywhere on the planet that can push that sort of air through for such testing? Or are they having to do limited testing in wind tunnels, and using that information work the rest of it all out on computers? I seem to recall that for SSc a scale model was fired down a rail at Penine Sands. I guess computers are cheap and powerful enough now to model. From memory tge Thrust SSC CFD model was 1 million cells, the one we are using on Bloodhound is 70 million.
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timbo48
577 posts
51 months
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Thanks for a great write up Chris. Wish I'd been there.
Mrs Timbo is involved with the education side through her university (Southampton) and is really proud of this, it's a brilliant idea to involve so many school kids.
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fatboy18
8,535 posts
80 months
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When I first saw that top pic of the engine in the Bunker, I thought CY88 had re opened his tunnel
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Mezzanine
3,659 posts
88 months
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Surely such a fantastic, British, engineering project deserves a few PH smiley faces and a few sponsorship pounds in their pockets? Get those idle hands down the back of the office sofa Garlick 
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M3John
5,603 posts
88 months
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Great write up Chris. Any thought of putting a PH sticker on the nose guys?
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R500POP
5,923 posts
79 months
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M3John said: Great write up Chris. Any thought of putting a PH sticker on the nose guys? Got a few grand spare?
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Alias218
110 posts
31 months
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I am kind of hoping that the big metal pipe leaving what is presumably the F1 'fuel pump' is to extract exhaust emissions while at the noisy end that hybrid rocket is spewing black smoke! That would be very indicative of EU regs.
'Ve must schtop CO und NOx from destroying our vorld!'
Excuse my poor German.
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