British Engineering is FIRST to reach average of 1000 mph on land.

[Benediction]

The Bristol-based (Bristol, UK), open source project, The Bloodhound SSC Rocket Car was announced at WiredCon 2014 that they'll attempt to break their own land speed by reaching an average of 1000 miles per hour (mph) (or 1609.34 Kilometers per hour (kph)) across the African Salt desert in Namibia known as the Makgadikgadi Pan (as seen on the Top Gear Botswana Special) in the summer of 2016. 

At WiredCon 2014, Head engineer of the project Mark Chapman said "The Bloodhound has a 135,000 Brake Horsepower engine that will help it break mach 1 (761 mph, the speed of sound) and continue to 1000 mph. For the last 2 years and the next 2 years, we have and will continue to laser etch the desert plain to create the flattest surface in the world across its 1000 mile stretch, No object larger than a marble will remain."

He continued to say...

..."Our pilot Andy green (RAF pilot) is only going to experience 3 positive and 3 negative gs of force when accelerating to 1000 mph and braking back to 0 mph. However the reason why we need to laser etch the surface is not because a small rock could damage the vehicle or cause it to sway but because with Bloodhound at 1000 mph if it were to hit a small rock, the pilot would experience the same pain or sensations that of a bullet piecing straight through the body." 

 

He then continued on to explain the sensations that the pilot, Andy Green, would feel when accelerating and braking,

"Although the pilot would only experience 3 positive gs upon accelerations the pilots body will feel like he is accelerating upwards and when braking he will only receive negative 3 gs of force, the pilot will feel as if he is moving downwards (the same sensation of that a person feels upon a landing plane, although much more serve.) However also whilst braking he will feel as it he is experiencing a car crash." 
 

He then concluded with this 

"But by open source, we mean you can download all the CAD files for the model shape and each component so that anyone can experiment, change and finally submit their own ideas for the 1000 mph and if proven beneficial, could be implemented in the final model. For instance, we had a sixth form graduate student look at the model in which one day, he suggested we turn the rocket upside down in which we discover that this will actually provide more force behind the vehicle than originally, Nobles original mistake being that they took a small rocket and slowly scaled up not realizing it was the wrong way up."

 

Below are a couple of links to a few interviews by wired, months before WiredCon 2014 took place:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/13/bloodhound-ssc-cockpit 

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-03/21/bloodhound-ssc-1000mph-car

[BallGum]

From what you've posted it sounds as though they're planning to do this, not that they've actually done it...?

[Suika]

Extremely interesting, especially the bits on how the driver would feel the pain of a small bump in the road.

[TheKDub]

Title is a bit misleading, Article says that they are going to attempt it, not that they already have.

[CatCloud]

As already stated, change the title, it's misleading.

Other then that that's Kewl, those cars are freaking cool.

[Thorium19]

Well considering that this has been in planning and development publicly for nearly 4 years now at least, it's about bloody time they got around to doing it. Let's hope that Wing Commander Green can make the record next year.

I've been following the progress of this and the concepts they've gone through, even got a picture of the full size mock up of it before the latest iteration, it's damn huge I'll say that.

[werto165]

In order to accelerate the car to 1000mph, the Nammo hybrid rocket will provide a thrust of 123.75kN (27,500lbf). This will be combined with the thrust from the EJ200 jet to generate about 212kN (47,700lbf) - that's eight times more power than all the cars on a Formula 1 starting grid combined. THATS CRAZY!

[mansoor_]

So many ways this could go wrong, hopefully it is successful.

Note: They would not be the first group to reach 1000mph on land, that was already done post ww2 on a rocket sled, they will be the first to do it in what qualifies as a car.

[Noctus]

So many ways this could go wrong, hopefully it is successful.

Note: They would not be the first group to reach 1000mph on land, that was already done post ww2 on a rocket sled, they will be the first to do it in what qualifies as a car.

Wasn't that just a sledge on rail's ?

[RexinOridle]

They are totally getting sued by Batman. Whast's even more funny is that at that speed, it will even go over the water, with that afterburner on.

[mansoor_]

Wasn't that just a sledge on rail's ?

yep

[OlekKing]

Why won't these people stop using the Imperial unit system already...

[Tacitus]

Except the current land speed record is way below that, at around 760 mph.

[Scheer]

First to theoretically possibly do it, maybe...

 

How does one go about getting the funding for this... I have a spare rolling chassis laying around I wouldn't mind strapping a jet engine onto in the name of science.

[Noctus]

Why won't these people stop using the Imperial unit system already...

Imperial = best.

[OlekKing]

Imperial = best.

Please tell me that's irony...

[ZestyJalapeno]

I actually did a module focusing around this car at Swansea, aerospace guys are really excited about it. Turned out it was powered by Intel Atoms...go figure.

[Noctus]

Please tell me that's irony...

It's actually sarcasm, dunno how u think it's irony.

[ZestyJalapeno]

Why won't these people stop using the Imperial unit system already...

They're trying to captivate the imagination of the public..."1000 miles an hour" is more recognisable to Average Joe rather than saying "447 m/s".

[OlekKing]

It's actually sarcasm, dunno how u think it's irony.

Excuse the typo, that's what i meant.

 

 

They're trying to captivate the imagination of the public..."1000 miles an hour" is more recognisable to Average Joe rather than saying "447 m/s".

And what's wrong with 1600 Km/s ?

[Extingquish]

They're trying to captivate the imagination of the public..."1000 miles an hour" is more recognisable to Average Joe rather than saying "447 m/s".

or 1600KM/h

[Noctus]

Excuse the typo, that's what i meant.

 

 

And what's wrong with 1600 Km/s ?

You do realise the UK works in miles and not kilometers ?

[OlekKing]

You do realise the UK works in miles and not kilometers ?

The United States, Liberia and Burma are the only three countries that have not adopted the metric system as their official system of measurement.

[Noctus]

The United States, Liberia and Burma are the only three countries that have not adopted the metric system as their official system of measurement.

Which does not answer my question. We use MPH, so it's pretty obvious they will report in MPH. As surprising as that sound's.

[ZestyJalapeno]

Excuse the typo, that's what i meant.

 

 

And what's wrong with 1600 Km/s ?

everything's wrong with 1600 km/s...no vehicle on earth can reach that velocity at ground level...JK =D.

 

This car is being researched in Britain, which uses MPH, that's why it's advertised as a "1000MPH" car. Bloodhound SSC's main goal, believe it or not, is to inspire a new generation of engineers; that means kids in school who grew up reading mph dials on their parent's cars. I know that might sound archaic and Brunel-esque, but the world needs engineers, and it all starts with PR.