Mark the calendar. A new world land speed record might be broken in October 2007 with by Bloodhound SSC and Wing Commander Andy Green.
We’ve waited a long time for this, but finally, a date has been set for the new land speed record attempt by Bloodhound SSC. Sort of.
The actual date in this CGI-ed abomination of a teaser clip is October 1997, meaning there’s still some final details to be established. Sceptics – of which there are obviously none at crankandpiston.com, not even a single one, nope – might suggest that this means a new world land speed record would be set exactly 20 years after the previous record set by Thrust SSC. But as we found out when we met the fastest man alive, namely Wing Commander Andy Green, and when we were given an in-depth insight into the Bloodhound itself, there is slightly more to it than that. In fact, there is considerably more to driving at over 800mph (around 1290kph), as the Wing Commander himself explains HERE. You can also check out the product of eight years of research, design and manufacturing involving more than 350 companies and universities BELOW during Bloodhound SSC’s world debut.
And yes, that is the speed Bloodhound is aiming for. That is 37mph/60kph faster than Thrust SSC’s standing record, with speculation mounting by the day that 1000mph (around 1610kph) might be possible. To put that into context, that is three times faster than the top speed of the 420kph Bugatti Chiron, meaning the Bloodhound could cover an entire football pitch in less than a third of a second (imagine the condition of the turf after that), and 1173 feet every second. Starting from Dubai, you’d be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – just over 1000km away – in a little over 45 minutes.
While testing will happen in Newquay later this year, the actual run will take place on a 20km run at Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape in South Africa. Testing meanwhile will be restricted to ‘just’ 200mph/320kph. Make you wonder which would win in a street fight: Chuck Norris (hashtag shameless 90s reference) or Wing Commander Andy Green’s stiff upper lip.
Oh, and apparently there will be 16 4K go-pros attached to Bloodhound SSC during the land speed record run. The live stream should be pretty epic then.
