1 010 km/h … in the Kalahari
The Bloodhound LSR team overcame numerous challenges over the years to finally accomplish their first set of runs on Hakskeen Pan
If you haven’t already, head over to Bloodhound LSR’S (Land Speed Record) Youtube channel or Instagram account to watch the team’s videos. Apart from behind-the-scenes footage and explanations of what will be the fastest land speed car of our generation, to witness the LSR drive at over 1 000 km/h on Hakskeen Pan is a sight to behold.
Years ago, we paid the team a visit when the strip was being cleared of stones (16 000 tonnes over 24 km2) by members of the local community. Fast-forward to the end of 2019 and, after all the challenges of this project – including nearly going bankrupt and the car being cut up and sold – the team and its new owner, Ian Warhurst, pulled off a remarkably successful visit to South Africa.
We arrived at the base camp next to the “track” on Hakskeen
Pan and I was immediately impressed with the sophistication and professional aura apparent at every level of this operation. Then again, we are dealing with a prototype car that will hopefully soon be achieving land speeds that will be a rst for humankind.
Tony Parraman, an engineer who did a stint with the Royal Air Force, took me through the car, from the nose tip to the rear wheels.
At the front is a shiny, sharp, hollow, 3D-printed titanium nose. There are around 200 pressure sensors hidden in tiny holes all over the car, which assist with the computational uid dynamics (CFD) model to calculate what the air around the car is doing at various speeds. This helps the team predict how the car will behave as speeds increase. The team takes this data after each run and compares it with their prediction. If there is a correlation between the two sets of data with no diversion, the team continues testing.
The front of the car is based on Formula One technology and is made up of carbon- bre. Wing commander Andy Green (the current land speed record holder and an EX-RAF pilot) sits in a carbonbre monocoque. The shell is thicker than the one on a modern F1 car. Electronics and sensitive equipment are stored in the front to keep them away from the heat generated at the back of the car.
The wheels are 930 mm in diameter, weigh 100 kg each and are made from forged aluminium alloy. Tony talked me through their manufacturing process (at a cost of £200 000 each), followed by the careful balancing method of shaving off mere grams from these beautiful items.
At 1 280 km/h, these wheels will be doing about 8 000 r/min, generating approximately 45 000 G. Just let that sink in... The three sets of wheel bearings were the very rst parts to be speci ed.
The small windscreen changes the direction of the air ow at high speed. Tony explains: “When you go through the sound barrier, that shock wave is almost vertical. As you go faster, the wave bends downwards. What you don’t want is supersonic air going into your intake for the engine, otherwise the engine stalls. You need to slow down that air in some way. The result is the air below the shockwave is going subsonic and the air above the wave is going supersonic.” The same type of stretched acrylic used on jet ghters is used for the small windscreen and is about 50 mm thick.
The cockpit’s hatch, Tony recalls, is probably the cheapest design element on the entire car: “We got a piece of cardboard, cut an oval in it and then bent it. I’m about the same size as Andy, so as long as I could t through the opening, we knew he would, too.”
Behind the cockpit, the design inspiration for the car changes from motorsport to aerospace. Here are the lower and upper chassis, the latter holds a Rollsroyce EJ200 jet engine from a Euro ghter Typhoon. The jet engine does work a little harder on the ground than it would in the sky as
it needs to push the car through thicker air.
The nal speci cs regarding the tment of the rocket, batteries and electric motors that provide the power to fuel the rocket must still be nalised. The fuel tanks are also made of carbon- bre with bladders on the inside. There will be a tank holding around 1 000 litres of hightest peroxide (hydrogen peroxide) including the rocket pump. The only emissions from this compact rocket are water and oxygen.
“When we do land-speed record runs, we have to refuel the car after each one; in those 60 minutes, we have to turn the car around and get it ready for its second run.”
Subsonic, trans-sonic and supersonic are the three speeds this car has been designed to conquer in terms of performance and aerodynamic ef ciency. Interestingly, once supersonic speeds have been reached, Tony says, “Everything tends to settle down as the air ow over the car is uniform.”
The braking system includes a pair of carbon- bre air brake doors with holes in them that open vertically and are sited in front of the rear wheels. They deploy slowly over the course of several seconds.
Finally, Andy can brake the conventional way via the car’s wheels to bring it to a stop. However, as he told me during our interview, the maximum deceleration force possible with these wheels on this desert surface is just 0,15 G. That is about 15% of the maximum braking performance of a modern car. The double parachute system serves as a backup.
The rear suspension comprises a massive set of springs and dampers, wishbones and the delta “wings”. It’s one of the prettiest parts and I’m trying to comprehend how this system absorbs all the forces at such high speeds.
Spray dust and base drag are terms used to explain aerodynamic challenges the team face but that is part of the ongoing research and development that makes this project so awe-inspiring. The company is working hard to nd sponsors to assist with this nal part of the project. I can’t think of a better space for branding than on one of the most exciting projects of the 21st century.
At 1 280 km/h, the wheels generate about 45 000 G