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Jaguar F-Type and L39 Jet Used to Test Comm Systems for Bloodhound SSC

Setting a new land speed record used to be all about taking the brave pill and keeping the acceleration floored. But as land speed records have ventured past the speed of sound, communication is just as important.
Jaguar F-Type and L39 Jet Used to Test Comm Systems for Bloodhound SSC 4 photos
Photo: Jagaur
Jaguar F-Type and L39 Jet Used to Test Comm Systems for Bloodhound SSCJaguar F-Type and L39 Jet Used to Test Comm Systems for Bloodhound SSCJaguar F-Type and L39 Jet Used to Test Comm Systems for Bloodhound SSC
As you all know, a new team is going for the outright speed of 1,000 miles per hour on land in a car called the Bloodhound. And the radio system on it needs to keep the driver in touch with the "ground control" crew while live video footage from the cabin also needs to be available.

To test the comm systems without actually having a supersonic car, the team gathered on a dry lake in South Africa and synchronized an L39 jet aircraft with the new Jaguar F-Type R Coupe driven by Project Director Richard Noble. Driving towards each other, they achieved an equivalent speed of 650mph (1,046km/h).

Not only does the footage look amazing, but it's also extremely dangerous, since the jet is flying at only 50 feet above the ground. One mistake and "boom", but the land speed record has always been associated with risk.

Ian Hoban, Vehicle Line Director, Jaguar said: “Our target with engineering the all-wheel drive F-TYPE was to maintain the engaging rear-drive character that’s so important to Jaguar sports cars, yet offer even greater dynamic capability. The result is a controllable, exploitable and blisteringly fast performance car in all weather and road conditions.”

Hybrid rocket? Why not!

We all know hybrids as the combination between an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. However, the Bloodhound SSC has a hybrid rocket of an altogether different kind that combines two type of thrust. In order to accelerate the car to 1000mph, the Nammo hybrid rocket will provide a thrust of 123.75kN (27,500lbf). This will be combined with the thrust from the EJ200 jet to generate about 212kN (47,700lbf), which they say is eight times more power than all the cars on a Formula 1 starting grid combined.

It uses a combustion engine to pump combining hydrogen peroxide and a synthetic rubber to create 3 tons of thrust.

The Bloodhound SSC will attempt to break the speed record in 2016 on a dry lake bed in South Africa. There, they hope to reach or exceed 1,609 km/h (1,000 mph), 381 km/h (237 mph) more than the Thrust SSC achieved all those years ago. That's amazing when you consider there are still brand new cars that can't reach 100 mph.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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