Bloodhound SCC: 1,000mph car, the most powerful ever made, shown off to the public
The public display could be the next step on the team's plan to smash through the land speed record
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Your support makes all the difference.The most powerful racing car ever made has been revealed to the public.
The Bloodhound, which can travel up to 1,000mph, is now on display at Canary Wharf. The team behind it hope that the display is the first step on their plan to shatter the world land speed record.
The record currently stands at 763mph. But the team hope that the £10 million car will smash through that record in tests.
The Bloodhound will undergo 200mph trials next year at Newquay Aerohub in Cornwall before embarking on a series of high-speed runs in a desert venue in South Africa. At full speed the car will cover a mile in just 3.6 seconds.
Andy Green is the current record holder having achieved the feat in Thrust SSC at Black Rock Desert in Nevada in 1997.
Now aged 52, Green will be driving the Bloodhound whose project director is Richard Noble, who was also project director for Thrust SSC and who was the driver of Thrust 2 which broke the land speed record in 1983.
The supersonic car, which has been assembled at Avonmouth, near Bristol, is the result of eight years of research, design and manufacturing involving more than 350 companies and universities.
It has three power plants - a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of Nammo hybrid rockets and a Jaguar V8 engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump.
Between them they generate 135,000 thrust horsepower, equivalent to 180 F1 cars. The pencil-shaped car will be 44ft (13.4m) long, 6ft (183cm) in diameter and weigh 7.5 tonnes.
Members of the public will see the Bloodhound in its land speed record attempt configuration with its two metre high tail fin - required for stability at high speed - in place for the first time.
Engineers have partially removed the carbon fibre panels from one side of the vehicle in order to show off the technology inside.
Visitors will also get the chance to look inside the finished cockpit - a huge and complex monocoque crafted from multiple layers of carbon fibre - and see the sophisticated digital dashboard.
Mr Noble said: "Public interest in the project is incredible and thanks to the generous support of our partners we are delighted to able to bring Bloodhound to London and put it on show.
"With the car now built and the track in South Africa prepared our focus is on racing in 2016.
"That part of the adventure starts with runway tests at Newquay Aerohub next Easter."
Additional reporting by Press Association
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