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The Car Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Posted by Soulskill on from the yeah-but-how's-the-suspension dept.

pbahra writes "Formula 1 is seen as the apogee of engineering excellence and automotive power. So it says something that in Bloodhound SSC — the car that, if all goes well, in 2013 will shatter the current land speed record — the Cosworth Formula 1 engine is just the fuel pump. 'We are creating the ultimate car; we're going where no-one has gone before,' said Richard Noble, the project director. The car, which Mr. Noble says takes £10,000 a day just to keep it ticking over, will be powered by not one, but two other engines. The smaller one, the EJ200, is normally found in the British Royal Air Force's Typhoon jet. Its job is to get the 13.4 meter long car up to 350 mph. That's when the big one kicks in. The big one is the 18-inch diameter, 12-foot-long Falcon rocket, the largest of its kind ever made in the UK. Its job is to catapult the car through the sound barrier to its maximum speed of 1,050 mph. That is, literally, faster than a speeding bullet."

5 of 405 comments (clear)

  1. 1050 MPH? Thats not very fast for a bullet. by Nadaka · · Score: 3, Informative

    1050 MPH? Thats not very fast for a bullet.

    Well, maybe it is fairly good for a pistol.

    But it is about half the speed of a 5.56mm NATO round from an M-16.

    1. Re:1050 MPH? Thats not very fast for a bullet. by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Informative

      1540 feet per second is a respectable bullet.

      Handgun rounds generally are around 1000 feet per second. 30 caliber carbine is about 1500 fps.

      Yeah a .223 which is one of the small and fast rounds can push 2500 feet/second or higher. The fastest rifle rounds go around 3800... but still I'd consider anything over 800 fps to qualify as "faster than a speeding bullet".

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  2. Competiting team: Aussie Invader by femto · · Score: 4, Informative

    Also of interest, is the Australian Competitor. The "Aussie Invader" team is attempting to beat the Brits, while using a fraction of the budget.

  3. Re:Well by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1, Informative

    I mean, we get supersonic vehicle to stay on the ground at speeds where it would most definitely rather fly. It's not all that useful. We develop air drag model and shape for a vehicle which has no practical purpose, nor ever will

    Bullet trains?

  4. fuel pump? by zardor · · Score: 3, Informative

    Strictly speaking, the F1 engine is actually the oxidiser pump for the hybrid rocket engine - it runs the peroxide pump.

    (i'll go back and lock myself in the basement now)

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