Bloodhound SSC: supersonic car gears up for first public test

A rocket-powered supersonic car will make its first public run in Cornwall today, as its Bristol-based makers begins preparations to set a new land speed record by 2019.

The Bloodhound SSC has been designed to reach a top speed of 1,000mph, says the London Evening Standard, but will only reach 200mph in today’s "slow-speed" trial.

The car will be tested on a runway at Newquay Airport, reports BBC News, and will be piloted by RAF Wing Commander Andy Green, who set the current land speed record of 763mph in 1997.

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“We've designed and built the most extraordinary, sophisticated, high-performance land speed record car in history,” Green told the website. “It will do 0-200mph in about eight seconds. For a five-tonne vehicle, that's eye-popping performance.”

The rocket car has so far cost more than £40m to develop, reports the Financial Times.

It is powered by the same Rolls-Royce rocket engine used in Eurofighter Typhoon jets, the newspaper says, as well as “three Norwegian Nammo hybrid rockets” and a V8 motor from a Jaguar sports car.

This equates to a power output of around 13,500bhp - “more than six times the combined power of all of the Formula 1 cars on the grid during a typical Grand Prix”, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Following today’s test runs, says the FT, the Bloodhound team will focus on breaching the 1,000mph and clinching the world record.

They are expected to make the record attempt in 2019 in the Kalahari Desert, the paper says.