LAND SPEED RECORD
Under pressure to break the land speed record
Jonathan Newell looks at how environmental test and measurement technology is playing a leading role in breaking new land speed records
breaking run that is scheduled to take place in Autumn in 2021. The current Land Speed Record is held by Andy Green, who
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piloted Thrust SSC to 763mph (1227kph) in 1997. Green is part of the Bloodhound LSR project and expects not only to break his existing record, but also to follow up with a run topping 1,000mph. The latest testing that’s been performed with Bloodhound LSR
took place in October and November 2019 at Hakskeenpan in Northern Cape, South Africa. There, the car reached first of all 500mph then 628mph, easily achieving the targets set for these crucial tests.
ENGINEERING TRIALS The testing in South Africa took place to prove the engineering integrity of the build and compare actual performance to that which had been modelled. After an initial run at just 100mph to test the control functions, the vehicle’s engineering was stretched at higher speed runs. These high-speed test runs were carried out using a Eurojet EJ200 jet engine but for the record run, a Nammo rocket engine will be used. According to the Bloodhound LSR
team, the project is a showcase of engineering at its very best. To break the record, absolute precision is required in every aspect of what is done, starting with the design and then in the manufacture and assembly of the car. The testing in South Africa
needed to prove that the driver is able to control the car with extreme accuracy and
he Bloodhound Land Speed Record (LSR) could be one of the great engineering achievements for the UK in the new decade. Years of design, preparation and stretching engineering disciplines to their limits have resulted in a successful set of tests that pave the way to a record
immediate response as there is no room for error at such high speeds. Additionally, engineers were able to gather a whole range of
key data about the car, plus other information needed to plan everything related to the record-breaking runs next year. This includes how the wheels interact with the desert, validation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and testing the parachutes. It was important in the tests so see how the car behaves
when slowing down and stopping from a number of target speeds, building up to and beyond 500 mph (800 km/h) in each run by increments of 50 mph (80 km/h). The team examined how much drag
the car creates in a number of scenarios and at various speeds, using the wheel brakes, one or both of the drag parachutes, and with the giant airbrakes locked into position.
10 /// Testing & Test Houses /// February 2020
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