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....

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

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

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

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!

In The Times today:-
Retirement isn’t a patch on designing a supersonic car, says Bloodhound engineer Ron Ayers

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.

You are correct. The desert wheels have no tyres.

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....

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"

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/bl...e-minister-may

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

Become a STEM Ambassador | BLOODHOUND SSC

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Cisco BHTV: UK Runway Testing - Education Day