If you’ve been following development of the Bloodhound SSC, you probably have some idea of the research, development and logistics required to push a land-based vehicle beyond the 1,000 mph barrier to set a new land-speed record. Even so, you can never get enough of the staggering facts and figures behind this project: 0-1,000 mph in 55 seconds, a top speed of Mach 1.4, aluminum wheels spinning at 10,000 rpm and a combined 135,000 horsepower. If fired straight into the air, it would reach an altitude of 25,000 feet. No wonder it’s already taken nearly seven years to develop.
In his latest episode of Chris Harris on Cars, Harris decided to take a break from his normal tire wrecking, on-track antics to take a tour of the Bloodhound SSC development facility in Shirehampton, England near Bristol to see how Bloodhound is coming together. The first thing that strikes you is how massive it is, over 44 feet in length and over 9 feet tall. It’s basically a gigantic F1->ke190 tub with both jet and rocket engines lodged inside.
Andy Green is the face of the Bloodhound program. In addition to holding the current FIA land speed record of 763 mph, set in the Trust SSC in 1997, he serves as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. He was nice enough to take Harris up in his prop-powered stunt plane to simulate the G-force profile that Green would experience while setting the land speed record in Bloodhound SSC. “It makes anything you can do in a motorcar seem totally puerile and childish,” said Harris after the ride, “because it’s so much more grown-up.”