What is fast? A marathon runner might tell you averaging 12 mph over 26 miles is a blistering pace. A Top Fuel drag racer would insist that anything less than 300 mph is just plain old slow. But for the team of the Bloodhound SSC, anything less than 1,000 mph will not be good enough.
Yahoo! reports that this young team of engineers and jet pilots aims to be the first wheeled vehicle to break the 1,000 mph barrier. “”We will have pushed back the boundaries of human endeavor,” says driver Andy Green. And he ain’t blowing smoke.
Green aims to break the current world land speed record for fastest wheeled vehicle of 763 mph, which he himself set back in 1997. He was the first man to drive a streamliner to supersonic speeds, and he apparently hasn’t lost his appetite for record setting. His 40-foot long streamliner will be powered by a jet engine designed by a 28-year old engineer.
The 50-year old Green is a jet fighter wing commander for the Royal Air Force, so piloting a jet-powered vehicle is nothing new for him. But breaking the 1,000 mph barrier will not easy, or cheap. To save on weight, the streamliner is constructed from titanium alloys and carbon fiber, and wheels are made almost entirely from aluminum.
The whole experiment, from start to finish, will take under two minutes. Green will accelerate from 0 to 325 mph in just 15 seconds, at which point he will hit a button to achieve full power. In just 25 seconds, Green will go from 325 to 1,050 mph, and he’ll have to hold that speed for one mile…or about 3.5 seconds. He’ll then hit a chute and slow down in just 40 seconds.
In less than two minutes, Green is expected to cover about 12 miles. Just think about that next time you brag about how fast you got your Camaro or whatever on the ride home from work.
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