The end of the bloodhound?

[phantom]

A 1,000mph race car project has been axed meaning the supersonic vehicle is on the market for the price of a Ferrari.

The Bloodhound supersonic vehicle - built with a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter jet engine bolted to a rocket - is all but finished.

The Bristol-based team behind it was aiming to beat the existing land speed world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).

Driver Andy Green said the car was now available at a cost of about £250,000.

'Need a few million'

It was set to go for the record-breaking speed in South Africa, where a 18km-long, 1,500m-wide track at Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape has been prepared for it.

"You're going to need to find a few million to get it running to full speed," said Mr Green who added he knew a team of engineers "who could help".

"We have basically completed the main structure, the desert is ready, we just need the funding."

Previous test runs at Newquay Airport in 2017 saw Bloodhound reach speeds of 200mph (320km/h).

Mr Green said he would "love to see the car run" and said it was still possible that it could happen.

"If somebody is out there with a quarter of a million there is a car there. There is still a chance that Bloodhound could run.

"As far as Christmas presents go, that's the one I'd like."

 

[...]

4 hours ago, phantom said:

A 1,000mph race car project has been axed meaning the supersonic vehicle is on the market for the price of a Ferrari.

The Bloodhound supersonic vehicle - built with a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter jet engine bolted to a rocket - is all but finished.

The Bristol-based team behind it was aiming to beat the existing land speed world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).

Driver Andy Green said the car was now available at a cost of about £250,000.

'Need a few million'

It was set to go for the record-breaking speed in South Africa, where a 18km-long, 1,500m-wide track at Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape has been prepared for it.

"You're going to need to find a few million to get it running to full speed," said Mr Green who added he knew a team of engineers "who could help".

"We have basically completed the main structure, the desert is ready, we just need the funding."

Previous test runs at Newquay Airport in 2017 saw Bloodhound reach speeds of 200mph (320km/h).

Mr Green said he would "love to see the car run" and said it was still possible that it could happen.

"If somebody is out there with a quarter of a million there is a car there. There is still a chance that Bloodhound could run.

"As far as Christmas presents go, that's the one I'd like."

 

PROOF brexit is bad for the UK??

Expect EU to exceed 2000 mph in early April 2019.

Peoples vote now odds-on.

[Erithacus]

There were lots of reports recently that the project was at a crucial stage, funding wise, and this announcement is not totally unexpected. Yes, the design and early testing had been successfully completed but the real work begins when it runs nearer its intended speed. That requires a large expanse of space, a lot of capable engineering and a fair wind; the logistics of getting there and running a car that has no predecessor or form is daunting. This is where the money really counts and sadly is not forthcoming as it stands.

I really hope that this is not the end, or indeed the beginning of the end, for Bloodhound. Land speed record bids have a long history of such changes in fortunes and I hope that we will still have the chance to attempt this formidable challenge. What is not so obvious is the fact that the project is also a vehicle for education (STEM) among the younger generations. It has made many visits to schools and colleges with the aim of inspiring pupils to consider and embrace a career in an area that will have a key role in Britain's prosperity. Could this still have a positive effect, even if the car goes into a museum? (Incidentally, the two previous LSR breakers are in Coventry's Transport Museum - and it's free entry!)

 

Presumably, the car is still in Avonmouth. Anyone with a chance to support this wonderful British venture and has a good few shillings in the bank may want to look further into the project and give it the final shove it needs. Mr Lansdown, could that be you? Fancy adding the Bloodhound to Bristol Sport?

[Shtanley]

Bristol Sport frantically altering our new badge as we speak.

[Erithacus]

Hmm, Bristol Bloodhounds - has a bit of a ring about it.

[swanker]

That ended quicker than I thought. 

[Guest]

Saved it seems:

The business and assets of the supersonic Bloodhound project - which will see a Bristol-built car raced at 1,000mph - are being bought for an undisclosed amount by Yorkshire-based entrepreneur Ian Warhurst.

[BanburyRed]

Great news that this project appears to be saved! Engineering at its finest.

[Guest]

I really hope they continue the education centre as it’s brilliant insight into engineering for school kids

[phantom]

The Bloodhound supersonic car has reached its highest speed yet of 491mph (790km/h).

Tuesday was the sixth time the arrow-shaped racer had run across Hakskeen Pan in South Africa.

Each time it goes out, driver Andy Green pushes the vehicle a little more, gathering the data that will enable it to safely break the sound barrier, and the land speed record of 763mph.

That can't happen until 2020, when a rocket is added to the car.

At the moment, Bloodhound is operating on just the thrust of its Eurofighter EJ200 jet engine. But as Tuesday's outing showed, this vehicle has tremendous potential.

"The EJ200 caned the car all the way up to 500mph, or rather just a fraction under. 491mph," Wing Commander Green told BBC News.

"The principle aim of today was to measure the slowdown, from 500 down to 200, to measure the aerodynamic drag. We've got all that data; it's now back to crunch the numbers."

It's a remarkable sight to witness Bloodhound roll away from its start point.

The car departs in a cloud of dust as the dried mud that covers this flattest of pans kicks up into the air. Once the dust clears, Bloodhound is nowhere to be seen. It's disappeared through the heat haze and has thundered over the horizon.

A second run was planned for Tuesday but was abandoned when inspections at the far end of the 10-mile-long (16km) track revealed some bodywork damage.

It's nothing serious. The titanium panelling that protects the rear suspension is peeling back as the air and dust sweeps past it.

Engineers will resurface the panelling before sending Bloodhound back out on to the track later in the week. It will be Thursday at the earliest, but all depends on the weather.

One of the key discoveries in these high-speed trials has been the safe limit for crosswinds.

With its big tail fin, Bloodhound is sensitive to anything that blows across its path. It makes the car step out of line, and if the winds on Thursday start gusting above 10mph (8.5 knots), then "run profile 7", as it will be known, will be pushed back.

Chief Engineer Mark Chapman is extremely pleased with the way the test programme is progressing. The inevitable technical niggles aside, Bloodhound is meeting expectations.

"We did one run today. OK, we'd like to have done a second, but in terms of the data return, the one run we did manage has been the most useful since we've been out here," he said.

[northsomersetred]

 

[BanburyRed]

Now reaching speeds of 628mph, one of only a handful of land speed record attempt vehicles to reach 600+mph. Not bad for something that was going to be scrapped. Let's hope it goes on to break the record.

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, BanburyRed said:

Now reaching speeds of 628mph, one of only a handful of land speed record attempt vehicles to reach 600+mph. Not bad for something that was going to be scrapped. Let's hope it goes on to break the record.

Yep beaten Thrust 2s record I think - some great clips on the YouTube channel. Andy Green is one cool dude, comes across as a genuinely nice bloke 

[northsomersetred]

 

[elhombrecito]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51715582

The UK-led bid to break the world land speed record is under threat once more.

Ian Warhurst, who owns the Bloodhound car that's been built to go beyond 800mph (1,290km/h), says new money must come into the project this month or it will be wound up.

Bloodhound clocked 628mph (1,010km/h) in trials last year while powered only by a jet engine.

With the addition of a rocket, the vehicle should easily beat the existing world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).

That won't happen, though, says the Yorkshire businessman, unless the financing is there to support it.

Mr Warhurst rescued Bloodhound from administration at the end of 2018 but said at the time he would only fund the rescue. It would then require other individuals or corporates to come in with the funds to finish the job. He thinks about £8m should do it.

"We've shown what this car can do and there's been huge support for it. But although I've had lots of conversations with people who are interested in taking it on, we haven't yet been able to get the money on the table," the automotive engineer told BBC News.

"We really need to do that in the next month because of the timescales we're operating to."

The £8m would cover the last elements of the rocket's development and the work needed to prepare and run the car on its bespoke race track on Hakskeen Pan, a dried out lakebed in South Africa's Kalahari Desert.

The aim is to try to break the land speed record during the pan's dry, cool months from July to August 2021. But that means kickstarting the final push no later than June this year.

"I reckon there's about a year's worth of work to get the car ready, so we need to get going in the next few months," Mr Warhurst explained. "After we came back from South Africa at the end of last year, we let team members take up other contracts. But we need now to give them certainty if we're to ask them to come back."

The businessman said the general public's interest in the Gloucestershire-based project had been immense. Independent analysis of the media coverage showed any sponsors involved in the South African trials could have received a 14:1 return on their investment, he claimed.

The privately funded Bloodhound project was launched in 2008 by then science minister and car racer Lord Paul Drayson as a "vehicle" to get schoolchildren engaged in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

An education charity has been operating in tandem with the development programme, using model rocket cars to teach fundamental concepts such as Newtonian laws.

Bloodhound was designed to run with a Eurofighter-Typhoon EJ200 jet engine in unison with a rocket.

Rolls-Royce supplies the turbofan and the Norwegian aerospace company Nammo is poised to provide the booster.

The speeds Bloodhound achieved last year using just the EJ200 power unit put it in a select group of only eight cars to run faster than 600mph - Sonic 1, Blue Flame, Thrust2, Budweiser Rocket, Sonic Arrow, Aussie Invader III, and Thrust SSC.

It is Thrust SSC which set the existing land speed record in 1997. Its driver was Andy Green. The former RAF pilot is also the driver in Bloodhound.