Science & Technology

Word's fastest car set to reach 1,000mph

By T.K. Randall
December 5, 2014 ·  22 comments

A full scale replica of the 1,000mph Bloodhound SSC. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Tony Hisgett Designed to be the fastest ground based vehicle ever built, the high-speed car is constructed from a combination of titanium and carbon fiber and will feature both a jet engine and a rocket booster to help propel it in to the record books.

Once it is ready to go the UK-based team plan to conduct the record attempt at the Hakskeen Pan, a dry lake bed in South Africa which provides a twelve mile expanse of flat terrain.

Due to the speeds involved the car will use special aliminium wheels in place of rubber tyres.

"Beyond about 450mph it's really, really hard to keep a tyre on - they just get flung off. So we have solid aluminum," said former RAF fighter jet pilot Andy Green who will be driving the vehicle. "We've been through a huge evolution of finding something that's tough enough that would do the job. Basically this car goes faster than a speeding bullet, so anything that hits this is like being shot at from a gun."

Green is no stranger to driving at extreme speeds having already set the existing land speed world record of 763mph which he accomplished in the Thrust SSC more than 18 years ago.

For this next attempt however the speed will be way beyond anything even he has experienced.

"A thousand miles an hour at ground level is faster than any jet fighter has ever traveled in history, so there are going to be some major challenges," he said.


Source: CNN | Comments (22)

Tags: Supersonic, Bloodhound, Land Speed Record