Just before Christmas, we received the awesome news that the Bloodhound SSC project – thought to have been dead after going into administration – was saved. It was announced that entrepreneur Ian Warhurst had snapped up the programme, and now, a series of interesting announcements have been made.
Firstly there’s the name: it’s been rebranded ‘Bloodhound LSR’ (Land Speed Record). Then there’s the new home to consider: the 1000mph car project has been moved to SGS Berkeley Green University Technical College in Gloucestershire.
There’s a new red and white colour scheme, which is currently looking rather bare, but that’s related to the final big change: the business model. Bloodhound LSR will be starting from scratch when it comes to sponsors, but the key difference is, it won’t be relying on them outright to stay afloat.
Before, whenever cash from sponsors ran dry, the project ground to a halt. This time, though, the sponsorship money will be backed up with cashflow support Warhurst, giving Bloodhound a much more stable future, and an increased chance of the team actually pulling off its targets.
While there are some big changes to the organisation, plenty will be remaining the same. The plan, for one: the Bloodhound LSR team still intends to aim for the land speed record of 763.035mph initially, which will help it “understand how the car behaves as it enters the transonic stage initially and then supersonic speed levels”. After that, it’ll be time to try for 1000mph.
Much of the old project’s personnel have been shifted over too. Land speed record holder and RAF fighter pilot Andy Green is still on driving duties, while engineering boss Mark Chapman, CFO Rick Sturge and “many of the original mechanics and technicians” have been retained.
Bloodhound LSR hasn’t given dates yet for future test runs or the land speed record runs themselves, promising instead to announce them “once operational and logistics planning is complete.”
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