Okay, so this isn't an actual, real-life drag race between a Formula 1, a Bugatti Chiron and the Bloodhound Land Speed Record car. That would make the national news in the current climate. Instead this is a video representation of the available data on all three, and how it might play out in reality.
There's a "standard road car" too, as a point of reference, but clearly you'll pay that no attention. Beginning four seconds in (because that's when the drone footage stabilised), the Chiron and F1 car have shot away - the latter already through 100mph, the former not far behind. The Bloodhound is still trundling along at 39mph at this point, just 1mph ahead of the regular road car. Even when the F1 car is past 150mph and the Chiron through 120 a couple of seconds later the Bloodhound is still languishing at the national speed limit. Then it gets going...
After 10 seconds the Bloodhound has finally reached 130mph, with the Chiron having cracked 150mph and the Grand Prix car nearing 180. From there it's absolutely ballistic: by the time 11 seconds is up Bloodhound is travelling faster than the Chiron and by 11.5 it's done the same to the F1 car. As the others let up the Bloodhound is obviously just getting into its stride: at 15 seconds its 194mph for the F1, 192mph for the Bugatti and 218 for Bloodhound. Interestingly, it isn't until 19 seconds in (and at 290mph!), that Bloodhound assumes the lead from the F1 car. And then disappears into the Hakskeen Pan. Really, really quickly.
Sadly this virtual experience is likely to be all we'll see of Bloodhound for a while, as the project goes into hibernation as a response to the Covid-19 outbreak. It means the plan for an attempt on the world record in 2021 has been described as "unlikely".
Bloodhound CEO Ian Warhurst added: "Rightfully, the world has more important things to focus on right now. Discussions with a number of global brands were looking promising when Covid-19 struck, but the sponsorship industry literally shut down. This means our ability to raise the necessary funds in time and, consequently, the window to conduct the LSR campaign safely in 2021 is now very likely to be missed. As a result, we are planning to go into hibernation to reduce the monthly overheads to an absolute minimum, and we'll reboot conversations with potential sponsors later in the year."
Given the hurdles already overcome by the project, the last thing Bloodhound needed was another setback. But, sadly, these are the conditions now faced by the team and, really, the entire world. All we can do, surely, is follow the advice, wait for this to be overcome and get right back behind Bloodhound as soon as is sensibly possible. All the best to everyone involved.