The land-speed record is something in many car designers’ sights — the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land (importantly someone must be driving the vehicle.) The record is overseen by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (governing body for many auto racing events.)
To achieve the record, two runs must be made by the vehicle. The runs are in opposite directions and must take place within one hour. To achieve the new record the speed of the vehicle must surpass the previous one by at least one percent. These basic rules have been in place since 1924.
The first record was set on December 18, 1898 by Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat. The Frenchman reached a speed of 39.24 miles per hour — very tame in this day-and-age. The current record was reached in 1997 by British driver Andy Green. Green, in command of the vehicle ThrustSSC, hit a top speed of 763.035 miles per hour (or 1227.986 kilometers per hour.) ThrustSSC was a jet-propelled car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers and Jeremy Bliss.
With every record, someone somewhere wants to break it. The vehicle to do that could be the Bloodhound Super-Sonic Car. The new machine is due to start running next year on a special track that has been prepared for it in South Africa. By ‘sonic’ this means breaking the sound barrier.
The aim is to reach a speed of 800 miles per hour (1,287 kilometers per hour.) The long term record is, however, to propel the record above 1,000 miles per hour (1,610 kilometers per hour.) To reach these velocities the vehicle will need to produce about 21 tonnes of thrust (210 kiloNewtons.). This will be achieved via a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine.
With current progress, designer Mark Chapman told the BBC: “We’re working towards having the UK pump testing development completed by Christmas this year, and for us then to go out to Norway. We want rocket testing well under way in January/February.”
Whether this happens depends on some technical issues and securing additional funding.
