Special Motorsports Event - Land Speed World Record Holder Lectures In South Africa

On November 15th, Land Speed Record (LSR) Holder Andy Green will kick off a two-week lecture tour of South Africa with a presentation at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The only person to have broken the sound barrier on land, Green will travel the country, from Hakskeen Pan to Cape Town, sharing his record breaking experiences and telling audiences about his new adventure: the 1600kph (1000 mph) BLOODHOUND Project, coming to South Africa in 2013.

2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the John Orr Memorial Lecture, run by The SA Institution of Mechanical Engineering. South Africa’s longest-running science event, the Lecture Series has been staged annually since 1961 and commemorates Professor John Orr, one of the country’s most distinguished engineers.

In October 1997 Andy Green, then, as now, a serving officer with the RAF, set a new Land Speed Record of 1228 kph (763mph). A small team lead by former LSR holder Richard Noble defied the odds, and the scientific convention of the day, to break the sound barrier – a feat many thought impossible. Their record still stands.

Today Andy Green, Richard Noble and many of the Thrust SSC team are engaged on a new and far more ambitious project: to build a car capable of achieving 1600kph.

The BLOODHOUND Project is not, however, primarily, about speed.

Rather, it is an international education initiative aimed at inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians by demonstrating these subjects in the most exciting way possible. The unique nature of the Land Speed Record, where the challenge comes from confronting the laws of physics rather than other teams with similar technology, means the BLOODHOUND Project can share all its data, designs, achievements and setbacks in the process.

Consequently, the Project is already being followed in 207 countries, with c. 7m students able to access BLOODHOUND information and lesson materials in class. The Team has presented to over 100,000 people since its launch at London’s Science Museum in October 2008 and full 3D design plans for the car were recently released on the internet.

Andy Green will visit a number of schools during his Lecture Tour, including Groot Mier Primary, located just 6km from the BLOODHOUND race track, on Saturday 19th November.

Meanwhile, Dave Rowley, from BLOODHOUND’s education team, will be based full-time in the country developing links with schools, colleges and universities.

In his John Orr talk, Andy will detail the remarkable engineering that allows BLOODHOUND SSC to accelerate from 0-1600kph and back to zero in just 100 seconds while safely handling the phenomenal forces and loads acting upon it, such as: 47,000 lbs thrust (equivalent to 133,000 thp) generated by its jet and rocket engines; 30 tonne suspension loadings; air pressures on the bodywork of up to 10 tonnes per square metre; and solid aluminium wheels, each weighing 90 kg, spinning at 10,200 rpm and generating an extraordinary 50,000 G at the rim.

It may be the world’s most powerful land vehicle, but BLOODHOUND SSC needs a very special track to run on if it is ever to break records.

As soon as The Project was launched, the search for a run site began. With the car designed specifically for the one environment in which it would run, getting the right location was critical. Clearly BLOODHOUND needed a wide, open area of very flat land. Given that the car runs on solid wheels (no tyres being able to withstand the colossal rotational forces), the ground surface was just as important; the priority was to find a dry lake bed which would afford a slight degree of ‘give’ and thereby cushion the car’s ride.

A UK university created a bespoke computer programme to scour satellite earth observation imagery and assess over 20,000 potential sites. Green then flew around the world to check favoured locations in person and conduct detailed on the ground investigations.

After two years, and several ‘near misses’, the perfect run site was identified: Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape. Supported by the Northern Cape Government the local community, with some volunteers, have begun the task of preparing the area ahead of the first high speed runs in 2013.

In addition to Johannesburg, Andy Green will be visiting the following cities on his Tour:

Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) 15 November 2011

Northern Cape: Kimberley (William Humphreys Art Gallery) 17 November 2011

Cape Town: University of Cape Town (UCT) 22 November 2011

Port Elizabeth: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) 23 November 2011

Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) 24 November 2011

Driving at 1600kph

Building and driving a rocket and jet powered supersonic car is an inherently high-risk undertaking. BLOODHOUND SSC is an experimental prototype challenging the laws of physics in order to travel one mile in just 3.6 seconds, significantly faster than a bullet. The only way to mitigate risk is to use absolute best practise and build-in safety at every stage: from tuning the aerodynamics so that they keep the car on the ground and stable throughout its speed range, through to the safe handling of the various chemicals needed to refuel BLOODHOUND during a record attempt.

The specification of the rocket, and the choice to use both jet and rocket power in the car, were both informed by the desire for safety.

Driver Andy Green will initially use the power of BLOODHOUND’s EJ200 Eurofighter engine alone to build up to 350mph – the jet’s controllability making it easy for him to shut down in the event of a problem at relatively low speeds.

Beyond 350 mph, the Falcon hybrid rocket comes on stream, adding its might to the 22,000lbs of thrust produced by the jet. The combined 47,000lbs of thrust, approximating to 133,00bhp, will blast the car to 1689 kph (1,050 mph) in just 22 seconds

The term ‘hybrid’ stems from the fact that BLOODHOUND’s rocket combines solid fuel with a liquid oxidiser, High Test Peroxide (HTP), to create its power. A staple of UK rocket tests for over forty years, HTP has an excellent safety record. A state of the art, 750 bhp Cosworth F1 engine will be used to pump 963 litres of HTP into the rocket during its 20 seconds burn – a flow-rate sufficient to brim a bath in three seconds.

If the flow of HTP is throttled back, the rocket will stop burning, giving the driver a level of control which would not be possible with a conventional solid fuel rocket, the kind used to boost the Space Shuttle into space