The organization, best known for the land speed record breaking Bloodhound SSC, announced Monday that they're entering Administration, a financial process similar to bankruptcy protection. This means that the land speed record attempt program has been put on indefinite hold. At least until they can raise an additional $33 million, according to Andrew Sheridan, an appointed official overseeing the administration.
“While not an insignificant amount, the [$33 million] Bloodhound requires to break the land speed record is a fraction of the cost of, for example, finishing last in a F1 season or running an Americas Cup team.”
The Bloodhound SSC gathered media attention in the past for its impressive build. The car, while still a land vehicle, is built around a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with a cluster of hybrid rockets developed by defense firm Nammo specifically for the Bloodhound. All of these combined result in an unheard of 135,000 horsepower. Last year, a record attempt was made. At the time, the vehicle achieves 210 mph in only 8 seconds.
At it's highest, the Bloodhound SSC is expected to exceed 1,000 miles per hour. If successful, this would beat out the current world record, set at 763.035 mph by British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green driving the jet-powered Thrust SSC.
If the organization is able to once again acquire funding for the project, they expect to run another test in late 2019.
It's like the old saying goes. "If you want to have a small fortune, have a large one and start racing."
