For people who are thinking that a 1,000 mph car only exists in futuristic movies, dropping by at the Farnborough International Air Show can give them an actual model to their imaginary car.
The one in display is only the replica of the 12.8m-long (42ft) Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC) which is conceived after three years of aerodynamic research. The team behind the creation of the SSC announced that Hampson Industries, a popular aerospace manufacturer will be the one building the rear part of the vehicle during the first three months of 2011. There is not yet a company designated to create the car’s front end but members of the SSC team said that there is already a company closing-in on the deal, though they didn’t say the name.
The top three men behind the team of SSC is wing commander/driver Andy Green, Chief Aerodynamicist Ron Ayres, and Project Director Richard Noble. The model car currently on display in the Farnborough air show already weighs 950kg but creators stated that the actual Bloodhound will be more or less six tonnes in weight. The Bloodhound also boasts of a high-end aerodynamic shape and superior engine power with its Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine and Falcon hybrid rocket. SSC is also expected to beat the 1997 record of the Thrust SuperSonic Car’s 763mph with its 1,000 mph capacity. Its supersonic speed is even compared to the likeness of ‘flying’.
One problem encountered by the team was the dangerous amounts of lift produced by the car when placed in high speed mode during the modeling process. Fortunately, the design team together with the project sponsor Intel, found a way to go around this problem by making the car’s design angular at the back part and narrow at the rear-track. By doing this, the shockwave passing under and around the vehicle was moderated whenever it goes on supersonic mode. Ron Ayres also added that they are now working on other features of the state-of-the-art car such as the engine-bay cooling and airbrakes. He expressed that they still have a lot of engineering to do on the interior but the exterior is almost done.
What is good about the creation of this car is that the team’s purpose of creating Bloodhound is not just to beat a world record. Ayres, Green, and Noble expressed that one major reason is because they want to inspire children to get engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects. The Bloodhound Education Programme even announced that there are about 1.5 million school children who are currently using the Bloodhound-based resource materials in their curriculum.
Chief Engineer Mark Chapman stated on BBC News that they are hoping to test the vehicle on a UK runway either on late 2011 or early 2012. If Bloodhound is proved free of problems on the runway test, it will be shipped to a dried lakebed in Northern Cape, South Africa called Haskeen Pan. This is where it will begin its challenge of breaking the current speed record of Thrust SuperSonic.
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