Bloodhound land speed record to take place in South African desert after major funding breakthrough

The Bloodhound SSC land speed record will go ahead towards the end of 2019 after a breakthrough in funding for the project.

A statement was released by the team on Wednesday saying that ‘with the very real prospect that our ability to raise funds is about to be transformed, the team has re-evaluated plans for running the car.

‘The opportunity now exists to reduce the time delay between conducting the high-speed tests (known as ‘BH500’) and the first record attempt.’

As a result, the Bloodhound SSC will be flown to Northern Cape, South Africa in May 2019 for high-speed testing before a record attempt in October-November 2019. There, it will attempt to hit around 1000mph (1609kmh), covering a mile in 3.6sec – and beating the existing record of 763mph (1228kmh) set by the Thrust SSC in 1997.

Related:

• The last land speed record attempt?
• Lunch with… Richard Noble
• A record worth its salt

The car will be tested on a desert surface, which the team says will be ‘freshly conditioned by seasonal flooding’, and will not be flown back to Britain between events to reduce freight costs.

Bloodhound’s record attempt has been delayed in the past due to suppliers going into receivership and difficulty in raising capital for the project. The statement apologised for ‘false dawns over the life of the project’ and said that the Bloodhound project has ‘tested the patience of our friends, supporters and team.’

Development will continue in August for the mono-propellant rocket-powered car, with further testing taking place at the Newquay Aero Hub where the Bloodhound SSC undertook 200mph testing runs in 2017.