Desert racer bulletproof
The Bloodhound SSC hopes to break the land-speed record by shooting through the desert at more than 1,609kph. Travelling at such high speeds, the racer requires a bulletproof body to withstand the huge impacts it will undergo. It will be going at such speeds that a small pebble could cause huge damage. If a bag of sugar hit the centre of the wheel while the car was travelling at full speed, for instance, it would be the equivalent of 50 tonnes of blast – the weight of a fully loaded truck. The Bloodhound SSC gets its speed from three powerplants. A jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon takes it to 482kph. The second unit is from a rocket that’s normally used for space travel, while a Jaguar V8 is used as an auxiliary power unit to drive the electrical system and rocket’s oxidiser pump. The supercar is designed by Andy Green who is looking to break his own world land-speed record of 1,227kph from 1997.
