Everyone managed the early start and long journey down the M4 and then M5 to the Bloodhound HQ at Avonmouth, where we had an eye-opening wake-up to the challenges facing the Bloodhound team in their quest to raise the Land speed record by 30% to close to 1000 mph.(1000 mph means faster than a bullet, and covering a mile in 3.84 secs!!!!!!)
Our excellent lecture guides very clear and well-enunciated presentation covered previous Land speed record attempts, the turbine engine from a EuroFighter, and the challenges facing the team in developing a tailor-made rocket engine and its fuel, the aluminium wheels (perfectly machined) the Critical neutral aerodynamics of the body, the double-skinned curved but optically perfect windscreen, the cockpit and controls. He also described the search for a new very flat, 7-mile long plain which floods and rejuvenates each year, in South Africa, some 250 km from the nearest large town, which had been scavenged by local labour to remove 20 tons of small stones. We saw the basic chassis under construction and were informed of the various tests to date.
We will all be anxiously watching the website for news of progress and achievements towards the record attempt itself over the next 18 months.