Looks like Richard Noble and Andy Green are back and planning to break 1000mph!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7685049.stm



A rocket AND a jet engine!

I can't tell you how excited I am by it I was going to post something last night, but wondered if anyone else would

It has a hint of JCB Diesel Max on the nose - a whiff of the unlimited hydroplane in the middle, and..errr..look like a barn at the back but I'm sure that'll evolve.

Doug

An amazing vehicle to inspire the next generation of engineers... but to go faster the next generation will need to invent tele-portation
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/

What are the mphs you speak of?

I for one am glad I am not driving that thing.

They're like kph - but bigger

And very difficult to come by if you don't have a Roman soldier around to pace them out for you.

How long will it take from Vicky to Endeavour at full speed?
Very beautifull vehicules BTW

About 27 seconds.

Low gravity and almost no wind resistance, that thing would really fly on Mars!!

And no O2 for it's Eurojet engine - it would be stuck with just the hybrid motor.

Man...now I know what I want for Christmas!!! I would be soooo stylin' blasting down the 405 freeway in this...(not that anybody would ever get a good look at me...)

When you hit the Mullholland pass Nick you'd find yourself on your way to Mars.

Curses....my fiendishly clever plan has been revealed!

Well, it might be a bit quicker, but a gen 6 Celica still looks nicer

I was really excited to see the sound barrier broken on land, but this is insane. ...>1000 mph? I think I can see the challenge. It is an engineering challenge. The science has mostly been done. Much of the technology exists. But I'd guess this is going to be very difficult to pull off.

Where on Earth can such a thing even be attempted without closing down a major highway? Would they even attempt this on the Bonneville salt flats, Black Rock, or some other such natural surface?

I see that the team has an interesting page discussing the surface they would like to race on. I have one, perhaps naive question to ask. Is there not a mostly flawless, man made surface anywhere on this planet that could be used to simplify this challenge? Or, is it in the rules that the driving surface must be natural?

I don't think that a sufficient expanse of man-made surface exists anywhere for this stunt; you have to allow for the possibility of catastrophic failure at peak speed, so that means several thousand square meters of potential fallout area.

They're talking Bonneville or Nevada; Edwards (Rogers dry lake bed) would definitely work as well, but the military needs it for its own stuff.

There isn't anywhere manmade, and big enough. You need something 20 miles long really, and 4, 5, 6 miles wide.

Black Rock is out, I've heard, as it has deteriorated over the past 10 years. Bonneville is so rarely fit for VERY high records (Thrust 2 just couldn't do it's thing there in the '80s.)

Lake Gairdner might offer something in Australia if it is dry. Lake Eyre is, frankly, cursed after the Bluebird attempt of the '60s. El Mirage isn't big enough. Bolivia might have somewhere. Finding a place is going to be a major part of the challenge.

Doug

Call that a car? THIS is a car...

Just got back from the first Bloodhound SSC Supporters Club meeting. I met Andy Green, Richard Noble, and Ron Ayres - as well as a few members of the Bloodhound design team - an amazing challenge. Andy's been hunting for a place to run it. "What could we use to find one" he asked us. Someone said Google Earth. I said "Astronaut Photographs" as I'd been looking at the Bolivia site from images taken from ISS...and guess what - so had Andy .

Landsat vegetation map - multiplied by smoothness from SRTM = no trees and flat = possible site. Then they had to eliminate them based on accessibility, politics, and Andy's been surveying some in America, South Africa, Turkey - and Australia is over the christmas break.

Great presentation about the hybrid rocket as well - using a V12 racing engine just as a fuel pump. They actually changed their plans following the Nitrous Oxide accident at Scaled Composites.

Fascinating stuff - and like spaceflight - they're really pushing on the potential for Engineering/Science/Technology/Maths education. Really really exciting stuff


Doug

Sounds like a call for software that could produce - let's call it, say, "drivability analysis" - from analysis of orbital images? No, wait, that's crazy talk; it could never happen...

I don't realy think it'll be suitable but the 90 miles beach in Northern New Zealand is dead strait as well as "quite flat". Have a look: http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/N/NinetyMile...etyMileBeach/en

Not realy "Land" speed record but worth a look as a speed one: http://www.kylebotha.com/