Automotive

Bloodhound Supersonic Car project runs out of cash

Bloodhound Supersonic Car project runs out of cash
The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is designed to eventually cross the 1,000-mph (1,600-km/h) threshold
The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is designed to eventually cross the 1,000-mph (1,600-km/h) threshold
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The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is designed to eventually cross the 1,000-mph (1,600-km/h) threshold
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The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is designed to eventually cross the 1,000-mph (1,600-km/h) threshold
Ever since its founding in 2007, the company behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car has made no secret of its plans to smash the world’s land speed record
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Ever since its founding in 2007, the company behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car has made no secret of its plans to smash the world’s land speed record
The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with an equivalent thrust to 360 family cars
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The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with an equivalent thrust to 360 family cars
The Bloodhound Supersonic Car compelted its first public trials last year
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The Bloodhound Supersonic Car compelted its first public trials last year
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Ever since its founding in 2007, the company behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car has made no secret of its plans to smash the world land speed record and cross the 1,000-mph (1,600-km/h) threshold. Today those plans have hit a significant speed bump, with the team revealing it has run out of cash.

After completing its first public runs last October and pulling 1.5 G on its way to a top speed of 210 mph (338 km/h), the Bloodhound team quickly turned its attention to a parched lake bed in South Africa. There, a specially built 18-km-long (11-mi) track was to be built and play home to an attempt at reaching transonic speeds of 500 mph (804 km/h) this month.

Powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with an equivalent thrust to 360 family cars, the Bloodhound Supersonic Car is at the very tip of what is possible in terms of aerodynamics, propulsion technologies and automotive engineering. And all that R&D comes at a cost, a cost that has seemingly become too much to bear.

The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with an equivalent thrust to 360 family cars
The Bloodhound Supersonic Car is powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine with an equivalent thrust to 360 family cars

The company announced today that is has entered administration, effective immediately, and is seeking a further £25m (US$33 million) to see the project through. And it does still seems relatively optimistic of gearing up and going again.

"Bloodhound has had enormous success in creating the world's most advanced land vehicle," says Mark Chapman, Chief Engineer, Project Bloodhound. "As we now move out of the R&D phase and into the operational phase of the project, we recognize that we need a different approach to funding. This project is built around the most successful team in the history of Land Speed Racing, and with the right support we have no doubt that the project will achieve its aims and could be racing for the record in as little as ten months."

Source: The Bloodhound Project

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8 comments
8 comments
SimonClarke
This has been on a shoe string since the day it started. I think it has made so many promises for too many years that the will to back it is lost.
Bricorn
I'm sorry, but I just can't see how any land speed record has any validity unless the vehicle is wheel driven. This thing is just a rocket that touches the ground.
Nik
Just what everyone needs for their weekend shopping trip! ie. Pretty well irrelevant to most people, hence lack of funding.
ThorLui
How do they benefit our humankind by making the car going faster than the speed of sound?
Rustin Lee Haase
Maybe they could have gone further had they not gone with such a stupid name. "Bloodhound!!??" Yea, that's fast. They might have done better at getting contributors if they had called it the "VelocityVixen" or almost any other name. Names have effects on people. The right name can inspire and open pocketbooks.
Daishi
They are building an airplane that doesn't leave the ground which is capable of operating at only a single location on the planet (salt flats). With the speeds they are at building jet aircraft would be easier and less expensive. They could just fly a jet close enough to the ground and then touch the ground with a wheel on a stick. At the speeds this will hit gravity is no longer significant. It's a wingless plane. With that said there may be someone in like Abu Dhabi that would fund this under the condition they can add it to their car collection if they succeed at setting a new land speed record.
guzmanchinky
I guess I don't see the point. Seems like a huge waste of fuel to me. I'd much rather spend money on a new Tesla Roadster.
Gregg Eshelman
I want to see someone refurbish the Budweiser Rocket (far better name than "Bloodhound") to prove it broke the sound barrier back in 1979.