Rolls Royce sponsors Bloodhound 1000mph World Speed Record attempt

The last time we had news about a sponsor for the Bloodhound 1000mph World Record attempt aproject, it was all about a carbon off-set company sponsoring the project with off-set credits so the speed record project could claim to be carbon neutral. This time, it’s something of proper value to the project.

Rolls Royce – the plane people, not the car people – are supplying their EJ200 jet engine from the Eurofighter Typhoon – and technical support – which will be bolted in Bloodhound to get it up to 350mph before a rocket engine takes over and thrusts it on past 1000mph.

The Bloodhound project has been in the making for a number of years, and it’s a credible attempt – involving Andy Green and Richard Noble who were involved in the current 763mph record set in 1997 – which is why Rolls Royce seem happy to be involved.

The Bloodhound project has been loaned three EJ200 engines – two for running and one for spares – and they’ve had to mimic the way the engine works in the Typhoon in the Bloodhound so it all works properly. And it will work a lot better than the engine from the Phantom used on the last world record in Thrust as it’s much lighter and smaller, with a thrust to weight ratio almost twice that of the Spey 202 in Thrust.

The plan is to crack the current 763mph record in 2014 on a flat, 12 mile long stretch of desert in Kaksken Pan, South Africa, before raising the bar past 1000mph in 2015.

By Cars UK