The guys behind the project have begun assembling the vehicle, with the target set to have it completed and ready for a run in 2012. According to Piston Heads, the first technical drawings were handed last week to Hampson, an aerospace fuselage specialist and at the same time title sponsor for the project, with the build ready to begin this week.
"After three years of working on a virtual car, Hampson, Cosworth, ACG and our other technical partners are helping us make it a reality at last," Mark Chapman, Bloodhound chief engineer told Piston Heads. "It's a great moment for a team which has invested the equivalent of thirty years getting the programme to this stage."
The design of the Bloodhound SSC calls for the use of an EJ200 jet engine, one you usually find on a Eurofigther Typhoon. Working with it will be a 400 kg Falcon hybrid rocket, bringing the total output of the power units to (hold on to your seats)... 133,000 horsepower.
The entire project is meant to shatter the land speed record currently held by the ThrustSSC, a twin turbofan-powered vehicle. The record now stands at 763 mph (1,228 km/h) for the mile (1.6 km) and was set on the Black Rock Desert in 1997.
The new run for fame will take place in the Hakskeen Pan desert, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
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