Bloodhound Project – 133,000 HP, 1,000 mph and a new generation of British engineers

Richard Noble tells the amazing story of the engineering adventure for the 21st century, the Bloodhound Project – the first car designed to break the 1000mph barrier.

The World Land Speed Record has been a long time British success with the Brits having held it for 70 of the 112 years of its existence. The cars epitomise the highest possible levels of technology for their age and the very high speeds achieved represent true pioneering at the frontiers of science.

The British Thrust teams have taken the World record three times in 26 years –the longest ever continuous duration.In 1997 the 100,000hp ThrustSSC car driven by Andy Green broke the sound barrier on land for the first time, establishing the first ever supersonic world record at 763.035mph, which is still to be broken

In 2005 with a major American challenge being mounted to reclaim the World record; Richard Noble and Andy Green decided to build one more car –the Bloodhound SSC . This is to be the ultimate record breaker.

Lord Drayson then Minister of Science and Innovation, suggested that the project be structured as an iconic engineering programme and run through all the UK schools to stimulate a new generation of engineers.
The research element of the programme to produce the first 1000mph car took far longer to develop than expected but now the Bloodhound team has a safe and viable design for the world’s first 1000mph 133,000hp car. With 205 companies and 3640 schools, universities and colleges taking part , the team plans to build and roll-out in late 2011 for high speed runs in South Africa in 2012.

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