F-Type Coupe

Make
Jaguar
Segment
Coupe

Now that the company has been rescued by entrepreneur Ian Warhurst, the Bloodhound Land Speed Record (previously known as the Bloodhound SSC) project is back on track after suffering many setbacks during the last 11 years. The goal is to not only use the Bloodhound jet car to beat the previous 763 mph land speed record set by Andy Green in 1997 but to also break the 1,000-mph barrier.

Following the successful 200-mph test run at Cornwall Airport Newquay in the UK back in October 2017, the Bloodhound team has announced high-speed testing of the Bloodhound LSR will begin in South Africa in October 2019 at the dry lake bed race track at Hakskeen Pan. The team will be targeting 500 mph, which is "a key milestone on the journey to setting a new world land speed record".

This will be the first time the Bloodhound LSR jet will run dry lake bed race track, which will enable the team to test the aerodynamics, handling, desert wheels and parachutes during the speed runs. The record runs, on the other hand, will be attempted in late 2020.

Since the project's relaunch in March 2019, the Bloodhound team have been focussing on the logistics of deploying the team and car to the Kalahari Desert and converting the car from its runway design to high-speed testing spec. Among the modifications include uprating springs and dampers, and adding the parachute braking system, more air pressure and load sensors, and a fire detection and suppression system.

"I'm thrilled that we can announce Bloodhound's first trip to South Africa for these high-speed testing runs," said Bloodhound LSR CEO Ian Warhurst. "This world land speed record campaign is unlike any other, with the opportunities opened up by digital technology that enabled the team to test the car's design using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and that will allow us to gather and share data about the car's performance in real-time. In addition, we're running the car on a brand new surface. The wheels have been designed specifically for this desert lake bed, but it will still be vital to test them at high speeds before making record speed runs."