Wing Commander Andy Green to attempt World land speed record

[roving]

Wing Commander Andy Green is a serving Royal Air Force Officer and former fast jet pilot. He intends to attempt to break the World Land Speed record with the "bloodhound supercar" powered by a Eurofighter jet engine.

Tests are taking place along the runway at Cornwall Airport today, Saturday and Monday, October 26, 28 and 30. The busiest day is expected to be the ticket-only public viewing on Saturday.

Andy Green | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project/team/andy-green)

Supersonic car which aims to hit 1,000mph and smash world land speed record to be tested today in Cornwall - Plymouth Herald (http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/supersonic-car-aims-hit-1000mph-683313)


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[BEagle]

Indeed!

The BBC showed Dead Dog's first run at St.Mawganewquay live today at lunchtime, so perhaps it'll also be on tonight's news.

[Wander00]

Good luck to him and the team. Hope the wheels stay on the ground

[Tankertrashnav]

Interesting fact from Andy, if the car does reach 1,000 mph it will not only beat the land speed record but will break the record held for aircraft at low level (not sure how low level is defined in that case)

[air pig]

Such a shame and a tragedy that Air Cdr Jayne 'desert witch' Millington is not there with them but I'm sure she will be there in spirit. RiP.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/air-commodore-jayne-millington-obituary-jjlhn76xk

[MPN11]

delete comment

[Danny42C]

Hope it comes off - but it's: "poking a finger in the eye of Providence". Remember Donald Campbell !

[just another jocky]

Wing Commander Andy Green is a serving Royal Air Force Officer and former fast jet pilot. He intends to attempt to break the World Land Speed record with the "bloodhound supercar" powered by a Eurofighter jet engine.


Isn't there a rocket engine in there too?

[Lima Juliet]

Interesting fact from Andy, if the car does reach 1,000 mph it will not only beat the land speed record but will break the record held for aircraft at low level (not sure how low level is defined in that case)

Rephrase, to “would break the officially measured by the Guinness Book of Records low level aircraft” - I’m sure there are more than a few that have done 870kts+ at low level but were never ‘officially’ measured for record purposes. If you catch my drift...:cool:

Good luck Dead Dog, smash the record and get 1000 recorded officially :ok:

[NutLoose]

Good luck to him, I often wondered why pick a pilot to drive a car and not say an F1 driver, after all operating a gas turbine engine is less of a up hill challenge than driving a car at speed, something your average F1 driver has been probably doing since he was seven.

[andytug]

Watched a bit of the live feed over lunch, brakes got pretty hot.
Richard Nobles book is worth a read, amazing achievement with Thrust SSC. The bit that got me was after Thrust 2 they ran the numbers through a CFD computer and found that the aerodynamicists slide rule calculations were spot on, and also that if he'd gone about 20mph faster the thing would have flipped upwards at 45g.........

[roving]

Posted today on youtube

FIRST EVER BLOODHOUND SSC PUBLIC RUN! - 200+MPH

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[drustsonoferp]

I've been looking forward to seeing her in motion for several years now. Good effort from the Army engineers, 71(IR)Sqn, and the RAF sootie i/c EJ200, in addition to the driver.

[taxydual]

Hang on. Is the Tax Payer coughing up for Dead Dog to kill himself?

[Rhino power]

I often wondered why pick a pilot to drive a car and not say an F1 driver...

How many F1 drivers have any experience of travelling at 1,000mph on a fairly regular basis? Answer: none...

-RP

[Rhino power]

Hang on. Is the Tax Payer coughing up for Dead Dog to kill himself?

No, it's a sponsor funded endeavour (to break the land speed record, not for Andy to kill himself...), and so what if the tax payer chips in, you miserable sod, it's good for GB and all the companies/sponsors involved!

-RP

[The Oberon]

No, it's a sponsor funded endeavour (to break the land speed record, not for Andy to kill himself...), and so what if the tax payer chips in, you miserable sod, it's good for GB and all the companies/sponsors involved!

-RP

This is Richard Noble's 4th. car. The second one, Thrust 2, was the first LSR car, which he drove himself. They ran out of cash towards the end of the project and he appealed for donations, £10.00 and you got your name Dymo taped inside one of the panels. Cash rolled in and he took the record for the first time. Apart from donations, no public money.

The 3rd. car Thrust SSC and the current one are sponsor financed.

[PPRuNeUser0139]

While I join with the rest of you here in wishing Andy good luck with his quest to exceed 1000mph (before making an even quicker dash to the laundromat), I must admit that the wheel-driven LSR (https://www.caranddriver.com/features/458440-mph) (currently standing at 458mph) is the one that does it for me.

[DirtyProp]

All nice and dandy but I fail to see the point of this endeavor.

Hat, coat....

[roving]

All nice and dandy but I fail to see the point of this endeavor.

Hat, coat....

Presumably your view would be the same in respect the ascent of Everest in Coronation Year and Felix Baumgartner's record breaking parachute descent from the edge of space in 2012.

[campbeex]

Here you go, Dirtyprop....

Education | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education)

[MAINJAFAD]

Interesting fact from Andy, if the car does reach 1,000 mph it will not only beat the land speed record but will break the record held for aircraft at low level (not sure how low level is defined in that case) Below 500ft AGL at least. Current record is 988 MPH by a modified Civil owned Starfighter in the mid 1970s done at 300ft AGL. FAI stopped the class after that as its pretty dangerous. Before the 1950's it was the official way of getting the ASR. The Starfighter may have reached 1013MPH, but that attempt couldn't be ratified due to a timing system fault.

[BEagle]

Thrust SSC and the current one are sponsor financed.

Something around 20% of Thrust SSC's costs came from the Mach 1 Club, consisting of thousands of members of the general public. 'Gold' members of the Mach 1 club have their membership numbers painted on the side of the car in recognition of their contributions.

[Tankertrashnav]

Originally Posted by DirtyProp View Post
All nice and dandy but I fail to see the point of this endeavor.

Hat, coat....

You can object to any record attempt I suppose but I rather like this one. Better than being the first man to walk backwards to the North Pole with a peanut balanced on your nose, or whatever the latest gimmick is! Good luck to him anyway

[Martin the Martian]

"I fail to see the point of this endeavour."

Isn't that what was said to the first of our ancestors before he pulled himself out of the swamp onto dry land?

[Molemot]

An in-cockpit video of the current supersonic record run, back in 1997...

https://youtu.be/zwh7Hlk6q1I

[Cat Funt]

Better than being the first man to walk backwards to the North Pole with a peanut balanced on your nose, or whatever the latest gimmick is!



Hold my beer! :}

[ShotOne]

"I fail to see the point...". Even if you don't give two hoots about 1000 mph, surely you can see the point of inspiring and training a generation of young people such that they're capable of such things.

[roving]

This being but one example ....


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The Guinness World Record for a Model Rocket Car was broken 3 times in succession by 3 different cars on Friday 14th June 2013 at The Heathland School, Hounslow. After more than a year of design, build and preparation, 5 mixed teams raced single, double and triple motored rocket cars to smash the existing record of 88mph/142kph, achieving a whopping 204.95mph/329.85kph with their winning triple motored car.

[Wander00]

If the project encourages more youngsters into science and engineering it is money brilliantly well spent, IMHO of course

[The Oberon]

This being but one example ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZhJWw_zjU


The Guinness World Record for a Model Rocket Car was broken 3 times in succession by 3 different cars on Friday 14th June 2013 at The Heathland School, Hounslow. After more than a year of design, build and preparation, 5 mixed teams raced single, double and triple motored rocket cars to smash the existing record of 88mph/142kph, achieving a whopping 204.95mph/329.85kph with their winning triple motored car.

Certainly beats the balsa and plastic Jetex car I built as a youngster.

[roving]

Thanks to 'senior pilot' for encouraging me to research the correct way to post You Tube Videos.

The explanation on how that is done is provided here

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/534520-posting-youtube-videos.html

[rats404]

On the odd occasion when I've seen the team represented at events such as RIAT, they have been inundated with youngsters asking questions, playing with stuff etc.

One thing we need is the next generation of designers and engineers if we are not to become a country of cold calling ambulance chasing call centre operators. STEM and all that...

Good luck to them, it is inspiring, flies the flag, and it's really gutsy. The challenges of achieving 1000 mph on land are (to me at least) mind-boggling.

[roving]

Inside the Bloodhound hybrid rocket,

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Inside the cockpit

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[Tashengurt]

I paid to have my son's names put on the tail. They follow its progress and their engineer mum tells them about the processes involved.
It interests them, maybe it inspires them.
There's the point Dirtyprop

[DirtyProp]

Point taken folks.
Cheers!

[IcePaq]

Our street driven car went 292mph last friday............Full interior, A/C, often driven to work....etc.

[Heathrow Harry]

"Presumably your view would be the same in respect the ascent of Everest in Coronation Year and Felix Baumgartner's record breaking parachute descent from the edge of space in 2012."

TBF they didn't revolutionise anything did they? Not saying people shouldn't do it and I'd even say the taxpayer could afford to kick in a few bob occasionaly certainly better than wasting money on hosting the Commonwealth or Olympic Games

[roving]

Our street driven car went 292mph last friday............Full interior, A/C, often driven to work....etc.

The auxiliary power unit for BLOODHOUND SSC drives the rocket oxidiser pump, which will supply 800 litres of high test peroxide (HTP) to the rocket in just 20 seconds: this is equivalent to 40 litres (over 9 gallons) every second.

The auxiliary power unit is a 550bhp Jaguar Supercharged V8 engine, lubricated by Castrol EDGE. The rocket will be a single monopropellant unit for the initial high speed runs (up to 800mph) and then a cluster of hybrid design rockets for the 1,000mph runs, both developed by Norwegian specialist Nammo.

[Heathrow Harry]

You'd have got a lot of Green Stamps in the olden days for a fill-up like that......

[snippy]

1995 F3s, Q JNCO.....Falkland Islands.....I remember it well.....the tall driver and his Nav walked into a raucous liney bar wearing lovely jackets & ties after attending a formal function........ties were swiftly severed by scissors and after much merriment the tall driver ended up with a nice bite mark on his nose delivered by an obliging techie.....no flying for him for a few days due to not being able to wear his oxy mask comfortably 😂😂😂
Happy days....

[jolihokistix]

I've done 180 mph in my road car, (200 mph on the clock) but Bloodhound is just lolloping along at that speed.

[Heathrow Harry]

I suspect your car goes round corners tho'........

[BEagle]

snippy, it was antics like that which ultimately led to the vast majority of unofficial bars being permanently closed..:rolleyes:

[andrewn]

Richard Noble, and much of the Thrust/BH team, are a throwback to a different era, when Great Britain was a leader on the world stage, men were men and "diversity" meant wearing brown shoes instead of black. I once spent a very informative hour listening to Ron Ayers talking about the challenges in designing Thrust SSC and, despite understanding very little of what was said,it was patently obvious Ron was a truely gifted individual, and that we'd benefit greatly from a few more like him. I personally have a lot of time for their exploits and am quite sure they will either achieve their objectives, or die trying!

My very best wishes to them all!

[Lyneham Lad]

In The Times today:-
Retirement isn’t a patch on designing a supersonic car, says Bloodhound engineer Ron Ayers (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/retirement-isn-t-a-patch-on-designing-a-supersonic-car-says-bloodhound-engineer-ron-ayers-v0shpgck5?shareToken=88b370e1643d6d092d1c7a41ce79ad27)

[NutLoose]

Surprised to see what looks like pneumatic tyres on it, I take it they are just for testing, I would be surprised to see them being used at the speeds they are talking about.

[roving]

You are correct. The desert wheels have no tyres.

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[glad rag]

snippy, it was antics like that which ultimately led to the vast majority of unofficial bars being permanently closed..:rolleyes:

So there only 20 yrs behind (or should that be ahead?) the rest of the RAF.

Must be real fun doing your stretch these days....

[taildragger123]

All nice and dandy but I fail to see the point of this endeavor.

Hat, coat....


I agree DP,
I understand why people climb mountains and take risks etc etc but this seems to be a very expensive and huge risk particularly to the "pilot". I fail to see the point entirely. It is not as if some sort of useful, or new technology is being developed. Excepting the wheels, of course, unless someone finds an everyday practical use for running ground vehicles at 1,000 mph. Usually we attach wings to such devices make the wheels retract to save drag and call them aircraft.

Praying that Andy Green will stay safe and best of luck to him.

I will now grab my goggles and coat. "Clear Prop"

[roving]

taildragger, the STEM programme is very beneficial. Add to which both David Cameron, when PM, and Theresa May last week at PMQs paid tribute to the bloodhound project.

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/bloodhound-endorsed-prime-minister-may

https://www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors/ambassadors

Become a STEM Ambassador | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/ambassador-programme/become-stem-ambassador)

[The Nip]

taildragger, the STEM programme is very beneficial. Add to which both David Cameron, when PM, and Theresa May last week at PMQs paid tribute to the bloodhound project.

BLOODHOUND endorsed by Prime Minister May | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/bloodhound-endorsed-prime-minister-may)

https://www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors/ambassadors

Become a STEM Ambassador | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/education/ambassador-programme/become-stem-ambassador)

It would be nice if the RAF were heavily involved in this project, particularly STEM for young people. But it seems they missed the boat and have been asked to pay for access.

[farmpilot]

Also 'employed' 315 people to pick up stones in the Northern Cape for three years. The local town now has mains water largely in part to the project. It has and continues to change many peoples lives in South Africa

[pasta]

Surprised to see what looks like pneumatic tyres on it, I take it they are just for testing, I would be surprised to see them being used at the speeds they are talking about.
I think I read somewhere that the tyres they're using for the "low speed" runs were originally designed/manufactured for the Lightning...

[farmpilot]

I think I read somewhere that the tyres they're using for the "low speed" runs were originally designed/manufactured for the Lightning...

They were made for Thrust SSC and then sold to Thunder City for their Lightnings. I then bought them back for Bloodhound. It's a funny old world.

[ninja-lewis]

I think I read somewhere that the tyres they're using for the "low speed" runs were originally designed/manufactured for the Lightning... Yep. They can't fit the full body with these ones fitted.

The wheels for the record attempt are solid aluminium.

Fastest wheels in history | BLOODHOUND SSC (http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/fastest-wheels-history-0)

[tartare]

Personally I think that for inspiration factor alone, this project is worth every red cent.
In an aerospace era when excessive financialisation or risk avoidance drives just about every decision made - it stands out.
No doubt it's expensive - and there's danger involved.
Economic ROI - who knows?
(But then who knows about any ROI - often no more than a blimmin' licked finger in the wind and a guess).
We're talking aerospace hi tech, extremely loud noise, the beautiful smell of Jet A1 and rockets into the bargain, big cars and insanely excessive speed!
What more could you ask for?!
Good luck to the team.

[riff_raff]

I remember the world record Thrust SSC run in the Nevada desert a few years back. The biggest issue I thought they faced was the shock wave traveling aft between the vehicle and the ground. Turned out not to be a problem, so they obviously did their homework.

That video of manufacturing the aluminum wheels was interesting. However, I think it would have been better to roll forge the wheel shape rather than press forging it. Roll forging would produce a circumferential grain flow around the rim section rather than the axial/radial grain flow produced by the press forging process shown in the video.

[ShyTorque]

Nutty, the low speed runs need rubber tyres because they are carried out on tarmac/concrete but the highest speed rating for "conventional" rubber tyres is only 300 mph. The tyres on JCB Dieselmax were rated to that speed but subsequently tested up to 350 before being put on that car. By no coincidence, that it where the diesel powered speed land speed record presently stands. That car could have gone quite a bit faster but it was decided to limit the car to 350 mph in the aims of safety/reliability.

[roving]

Recent upload to YouTube. The positive comments posted there justify uploading it here.

Cisco BHTV: UK Runway Testing - Education Day

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[Flap62]

Now, I'm as much of a grumpy old sod as the best of them but some of the posts here have flicked my switch!

Why are we even bothering? It’s just a huge waste of money blah blah blah.

Well, the reason we are bothering is because it shows we can. It shows that Britain is still an incredible centre of technical excellence and innovation. It shows that we have the desire to push boundaries, both physical and technological. It shows that we are willing to enthuse and inspire the next generation of young men and women to embrace science and engineering. It shows that our military still support cutting edge technology. It shows the whole world that Britain isn’t just a lap dog of Washington or Brussels.

If all of that costs a few quid then I say the benefit we get from it is worth ten times the cost.