An Attempt at the Land Speed Record for 2010

763.053 mph-The current land speed record that was set by Andy Green in October of 1997. Before him, Richard Nobel held the title reaching a speed of 633mph. Now, the two men have decided to team up in an attempt to shatter the current record and forever put themselves in the history books.

Their goal is to engineer the first land vehicle to reach speeds in excess of 1000mph. Currently, they are working on a design for the BloodHoundSSC, the successor to the ThrustSSC that broke the record in 1997.

Powering the BloodHoundSSC will be a jet, rocket and piston-engine combination that should proved the thrust to get to the 1000mph target. Surprising, most of the research and development is actually going into the body of the vehicle and finding ways to keep in light and aerodynamic.

However, not all the hype will be surrounding the record. Most of the technology that will be used for the BloodhoundSSC can also be used in everyday vehicles. The project also has the potential to bring about advances in material technology and aerodynamic design.

The record attempt will be broken up over a 3 year time span. The first run of the BloodHoundSSC will be held next year and the bar is set at 800mph. After doing some tweaking and additional research, the team will try for 900pmh in 2010. Some more work under the hood will again follow and the final attempt is scheduled for 2011.

According to computer models, the jump from a stand still to 1050mph should take about 40 seconds and when running at top speed, Green will be covering just shy of 500 meters every second. That number is similar to the average sideways velocity of a person standing at the equator.

For now, the design is still purely computer generated, but they expect to move along quickly with the project once a final design has been decided upon. 1000mph, here we come!

Via : BloodHound Project