Revised Schedule

Bloodhound land-speed record attempt postponed to 2018.

- Irma Venter

The Bloodhound team’s attempt to set a new world land-speed record has been postponed to 2018.

Initially planned for 2015, the UK-driven record attempt has faced a number of deferments, owing largely to budgetary constraints.

Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Green will be behind the Bloodhound supersonic car’s wheel as he attempts to break his own land speed record of 1 227.9 km/h, set in 1997, in Nevada, in the US.

The record bid will take place on South Africa’s Hakskeen Pan, in the Northern Cape.

The Bloodhound will use three power plants: a RollsRoyce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of three Nammo hybrid rockets and a 550 bhp supercharged Jaguar V8 engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump.

Between them, they will generate 135 000 thrust horsepower, equivalent to 180 Formula 1 cars.