The Bloodhound SSC supersonic car has made its first public test run today on the runway at Newquay airport.
The car reached a peak speed of around 200-210mph during the two runs it made down the runway.
Bloodhound is the first car in the world designed to travel at speeds of over 1,000mph and this test will be the first step towards its record-breaking attempt in South Africa in 2019.
The car was be piloted by RAF Wing Commander Andy Green and is expected to reach a positively snail-like 200mph as part of a “slow-speed” trial that will test the Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine that is currently strapped to the top of it.
Wing Commander Green is no stranger to speed, in fact it was 20 years ago that Green took to the wheel of the Thrust SSC vehicle and then proceeded to take it through the sound barrier all the way to a staggering 763mph.
Taking nine years to develop and costing around £10m, Bloodhound SSC is arguably one of the most advanced vehicles on the planet.
It’s also almost entirely funded by its sponsors, which means that progress has been limited by the amount of cash that they can provide.
Powering the car up to around 600mph will be the single jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet. Then as the car pushes past this to around 800+mph a trio of three hybrid rocket engines will then also engage.
The test run in Newquay will not feature these hybrid rockets (they’re still being finished in Norway), but instead will be a preliminary test of the car’s jet engine and its state-of-the-art computer systems.
Another key difference will be the wheels used. The Newquay test will see the Bloodhound run on conventional rubber wheels specially adapted from an Electric Lightning jet built in the 60s.
When it comes to the full-speed test however these tyres would simply disintegrate and so Bloodhound will actually use specially-built aluminium disc wheels.
This public test will be the first of many such trial runs as the team put every single part of the car through its paces ahead of the historic test run in South Africa in 2019.