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Rolls-Royce gets into LSR game, backs Bloodhound SSC [w/video]

Jonathon Ramsey — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Technology, Videos, UK

Rolls-Royce, the "power solutions" company that makes jet engines and much more (not the luxury motorcar company) has signed on to support the Bloodhound SSC Land Speed Record attempt project. This isn't just a financial tie-up and exchange of engines and tech, though, Rolls-Royce is just as interested as the Bloodhound gang in promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics to children in the UK and around the world.

It will be providing its EJ200 jet engine that powers the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet with 20,000 pounds of thrust. In the Bloodhound, the engine will be the first stage in the hybrid rocket system that they hope will get the SSC to 1,000 miles per hour. Coincidentally, although Rolls-Royce hasn't been officially involved with Bloodhound before, its engines have been used to break records in the Bloodhound predecessors Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC.

There's a press release below with more details and a video that animates how the hybrid rocket inside the blue streak works.

Continue reading Rolls-Royce gets into LSR game, backs Bloodhound SSC [w/video]

Rolls-Royce gets into LSR game, backs Bloodhound SSC [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bloodhound SSC test-fires engine, land-speed record is in danger

Zach Bowman — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Technology, Videos, UK, Specialty

If you remember the Bloodhound Supser Sonic Car, you know the team behind the monstrosity is out to make sure the land-speed record remains in British custody for the foreseeable future. Currently, the record sits at 763 miles per hour, set by the ThrustSSD in 1997, but the Bloodhound gang wants to see that number upped to 1,050 mph. On land.

For those of you who are counting, that's Mach 1.4.

The team is already well on its way. It just completed the first test firing of its rocket system, and the get up produces a whopping 14,000 pounds of thrust.

The engine sucks down a liquid peroxide and solid synthetic rubber fuel mix and will work in conjunction with a Cosworth CA2010 F1 V8 engine to scoot the Boodhound down the salt flats. If that's not cool enough to ice your cucumbers, the whole kit was designed by 28-year-old, self-trained rocket engineer Daniel Jubb. Look out below for a video of the test run, completed in the safety of a bomb shelter.

Continue reading Bloodhound SSC test-fires engine, land-speed record is in danger

Bloodhound SSC test-fires engine, land-speed record is in danger originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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California man hopes to break 2,000-mph speed barrier

Zach Bowman — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, Etc., Technology, Specialty, Racing

We've been told there was a time when critics of the automobile warned against the dangers of high-speed driving. At the lofty speed of 35 miles per hour, they said, the air could very well be sucked right out of your lungs, leaving you to die of asphyxiation as you careened along at the edge of sanity.

The human race has a long history of itching to push the land-speed envelope ever farther, along with a similarly storied line of naysayers waving the thou-shalt-not flag. One man in Apple Valley, California has taken it upon himself not only to beat the current land-speed record of 763.035 mph, but to demolish it. Waldo Stakes is building a land-speed car he figures should be able to reach 2,000 mph.

Once again, for clarity's sake, that's two-thousand miles per hour.

If you've been paying attention, you likely know the Bloodhound SSC is aiming for a somewhat more modest 1,000 mph. And while that beast has an entire platoon of engineers, years of research and $15 million behind it, Stakes and his Sonic Wind Land Speed Research Vehicle are a bit more homegrown. The man makes his wages as a general contractor and walked away from formal education mid-way through a stint in community college in 1974.

But, while he hasn't followed the traditional engineering route, the man has been studying the principles behind land speed vehicles since he was a kid. More importantly, this isn't some half-cooked pipe dream. Stakes has already amassed two XLR99 rocket engines the likes of which powered the infamous X-15 experimental plane. All hail the mad scientists of the world. Head over to Popular Mechanics for a great look at his progress.

California man hopes to break 2,000-mph speed barrier originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bloodhound Gang: Full-scale model of supersonic car unveiled in UK [w/video]

Zach Bowman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:24:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, UK, Specialty, Racing

Bloodhound SSC show car - Click above for high-res image gallery

It looks like the Bloodhound project has reemerged from the ether of the internet, this time with a full-scale model of the team's actual world land speed-record hopeful. If you dust off the way-back synapses, you might recollect that the Bloodhound Education Program is a ploy to get school-aged kids into the sciences by showing them exactly what Algebra can do. You know, like launch a hunk of metal to 1,000 miles per hour on land. As a show of progress, the team has unveiled a 42-foot-long life-size replica of the machine that it hopes to use to obliterate the standing world land-speed record of a little over 763 mph.

So far, construction of the rear section of the machine is slated to begin in the second quarter of next year, and the team claims that it's in talks with another organization to begin building the front half right now. That means we could be hearing reports of shakedown runs by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012. From there, it's a short hop to the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa for the real trial. Get excited, people. Hit the jump for a video of the car as well as the full press release. Thanks for the tips, Carlos and Mark!

Gallery: Bloodhound Supersonic Car

[Source: Bloodhound Project]

Continue reading Bloodhound Gang: Full-scale model of supersonic car unveiled in UK [w/video]

Bloodhound Gang: Full-scale model of supersonic car unveiled in UK [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bloodhound supersonic car shooting for 1,000 MPH and new Land Speed Record

John Neff — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc.

Click above for gallery of the 1,000-mph Blackhound SSC

The current land speed record (LSR) for an earth-bound motor vehicle is 763 mph, which was set by Andy Green behind the wheel of the Thrust SSC back in 1997. That car was designed by Richard Noble, among others, and he and his driver are teaming up again to build a new supersonic car (SSC) to shatter the old record on its way to a new LSR of 1,000 mph. The new car is called the Bloodhound Project, a curious name since "speed" doesn't readily come to mind when thinking about that particular breed of canine, but whatever. The new Bloodhound SSC will be powered by three engines: a hybrid rocket, Eurojet EJ200 jet engine and 800bhp V12 engine, the latter of which will pull the vehicle around at low speeds and act as a starter motor - the world's most powerful starter motor - for the jet engine. The car's design is also completely different from that of the Thrust SSC, which Green and Noble used to set the current LSR. That car had two outboard jet engines, but in order to reach speeds of Mach 1.4 on the ground, the Bloodhound SSC will use a narrower fuselage that's been aerodynamically optimized to safely travel at speeds approaching 1,000 mph. Since this is an engineering exercise, the Brit-based Bloodhound team will gear up to their ultimate goal by scheduling successive runs to reach 800 mph in 2009, 900 mph in 2010 and finally 1,000 mph in 2011. You can read more about the car from Noble himself at the project's website, or check out the current design mockup in our gallery below. Thanks for the tip, Qkthr!

Gallery: 1,000-mph Bloodhound SSC

[Source: BloodhoundSSC.com]

Bloodhound supersonic car shooting for 1,000 MPH and new Land Speed Record originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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