Page 66 - MotorTrend (March 2020)

brakes. Then a 200-mph run using max
at Rolls-Royce since 2017, where it was
filled with a corrosion inhibitor fluid. It
took a few attempts to start, a task made
more difficult by the 1,968-foot altitude
and desert heat. But once the 25-strong
Bloodhound LSR team had fixed a few
minor issues (such as a faulty fuel pump
sensor and a leaking coolant tank), Blood-
hound was ready to roll.
Warhurst wasn’t the only one excited to
see Bloodhound on the move in the desert
for the first time: “I had people coming up
to me shaking my hand, in tears, because
they’d worked so hard for so long to finally
get the car running.”
The ever-cool Green, however, treated
the carefully designed series of test runs
with the professional detachment of a test
pilot. First, a static engine test, followed
by a 100-mph check of the steering and
Bloodhound at 628 mph, the sixth car
in history to go faster than 600 mph.
66 MOTORTREND.COM MARCH 2020
power without reheat—the afterburner—
and a coast-down to establish rolling
resistance. And finally, a 350-mph run
using full reheat—Bloodhound thundering
from 50 to 300 mph in 13 seconds—with
stability tests before and after peak speed,
then a coast-down after engine shutdown
to measure rolling resistance without
the jet engine’s idle thrust. This run also
allowed to team to collect data on para-
chute deployment.
Finally, it’s the morning of November 16.
Sunny, the temperature a mild 77 degrees,
winds no more than 3 to 6 mph. Green
straps in for Run 34. A white line runs
from under Bloodhound’s low-slung nose
straight across the baked brown crust to
the far horizon. Green throttles up then
lights the afterburner. Bloodhound takes
just 7 seconds to go from 100 to 200 mph,
and just 30 seconds after that to blast
past 600 mph. Throughout, Green’s calm,
clipped commentary sounds like someone
reading a shopping list.
The team thought they’d hit 600 mph,
the target for this run. But two of the
three GPS units confirmed Bloodhound
had brushed 628 mph—1,010 kph—before
Green lifted. Bloodhound had proven it
had the potential to beat the land speed
record and passed the 1,000-kph mark
for good measure. Warhurst and the team
celebrated then packed up and headed
back to Britain.
To break the land speed record, Blood-
hound will need to be fitted with a rocket
motor to provide additional thrust.
The original design called for a hybrid
rocket fueled by hydrogen peroxide and a
carbon-based material, with a fuel pump
powered by a 5.0-liter Jaguar V-8 engine.
In theory that setup would produce
enough thrust to take Bloodhound to
1,000 mph. But, Warhurst says, taking the
land speed record can be achieved with
a less powerful mono-propellant rocket.
And technological advances over the past
decade or so have offered some simpler
and safer solutions.