New Ideas and New Products

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the British team that is attempting to build a car to break the 1000 mph mark. This supersonic car is to be called the Bloodhound SSC.

So I was pleased to see the mainstream UK media publishing the following story.

This piece is actually written by John Piper who is the engineering director for Bloodhound SSC. He talks about some of the challenges they are facing in terms of the stability of the structure of the car due to the immense forces it will be subjected to.

He talks about using a diffuser to stabilise the car and it is the use of this bit of technology which is causing all the arguments amongst Forumla 1 teams right now.

Bloodhound SSC

Britain has held the world land speed record for the last 25 years and has been involved in the record attempt for the last 100 years. In 1997 Richard Noble and his team built a car that broke the sound barrier - that’s 763 mph. What an incredible feat of engineering. How do you manage to keep something travelling that fast flat on the ground?

Well if that wasn’t enough the team have got together again with the plan to build a new car that will break the 1000 mph barrier! Whereas the last car used two jet engines to get it to Mach 1 the new car will require a rocket in addition to a jet engine. The new car will be called Bloodhound SSC and you can find out more about it here.

Apparently a big motivation for this project is the fact that Britain is producing less engineering graduates each year which has obviously has significant implications for the economy. The team are going to spend a significant amount of time devoting their resources to educational projects to inspire young Brits.

I’m really excited about this project. I rather geekily joined their supporters club and made a donation. This has it all. cutting edge tecnology, attempting to do the impossible, a touch of British eccentricity and what will surely be a very cool shiny car. Good luck.