The reason for this second delay isn't due to technological challenges, but monetary ones. It's taking the British team longer than expected to raise the necessary funding for the attempt. Their biggest setback was the bankruptcy of two key supplies, however.
Project leader Richard Noble had this to say.
“There have been many false dawns over the life of the project and we have, regrettably but unavoidably, tested the patience of our friends, supporters and team.”
The Bloodhound SSC is a scary vehicle to see. The steerable car is essentially half jet engine and half rocket engine. A Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine brings the car to speeds of 300 mph. After that, it relies on a cluster of custom rockets developed by defense firm Nammo. Their combined power kicked out a total of 135,000 horsepower.
How fast is it? That's the question we all want to know. The current land speed record is the 763 mph set by fighter pilot Andy Green in 1997 behind the wheel of the Thrust SSC. The same driver will also operate the Bloodhound SSC. The current expectation for the vehicle sits over 1,000 mph. That's fast enough to cover a mile in less than four seconds.
Once the record-breaking attempt actually takes place, it'll happen in Hakseen Pan, a dry lake bed in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert. The development will take place in the United Kingdom until May 2019, where it will be transferred to the Hakseen Pan for test runs. If everything goes as planned, the official attempt will take place in October or November.
Here's hoping for a successful run.
