Bloodhound supersonic car project axed
A project to race a car at more than 1,000mph has been axed after it failed to secure a £25m cash injection.
The Bloodhound supersonic vehicle - built with a Rolls-Royce Eurofighter jet engine bolted to a rocket - is all but finished.
The Bristol-based team behind it was aiming to beat the existing land speed world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).
[...] The last two-to-three years have been an especially tough environment in which to raise financial support. The investment landscape is difficult, in part because of Brexit uncertainty, but principally because many large brands that might once have put their name on the side of a car to build awareness are now using other marketing tools, such as social media.
Previously: 3D-Printed Tech to Steer Bloodhound Supersonic Car
Bloodhound Supersonic Car to be Tested in October
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Snotnose on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:33AM (4 children)
Did they run out of people willing to give them money, or idiots to climb into their deathtraps and try to survive 1,000 mph on less than the lowest bidder? As in, we can't meet your spec but this is what we can do...
I hope it's the latter, but am afraid it's the former. Face it, record the dude dying at 1,000 MPH and you'll make money on PPV.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:16AM
I knew a guy who was preparing to drive a not-too-modified Miata 200mph on the salt flats, he was pretty relieved when the whole thing fell apart - sponsor car got recalled to Japan before they made the attempt.
Interesting balance of physics and economics are involved in making something like that happen. To go faster, you want narrower wheels and more money. To get the money, you need to use wider wheels that a sponsor will pay you to put on the car - extra turbo boost is cheaper than passing on wheel sponsor money.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @02:19AM (2 children)
> ...idiots to climb into their deathtraps...
Andy Green is no idiot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Green [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @03:25AM (1 child)
And he's 58 years old. He's the sort of guy who has been active his whole life and now can't handle slowing down in a creaky, leaky, old body.
He'd rather go out in rocket bomb than sit in a rocker.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @04:21AM
Well, he's already set several other speed records, so he's a lifetime speed junkie in my book. As has been well documented he approaches record braking on land just like an engineering test pilot. One step at a time, check out all the vehicle systems as you go and never go when something even hints of trouble.