Bloodhound primed to break land speed record in 2017

The Bloodhound supersonic car project, which is now back on rails aims to break the land speed record in October 2017.

The shortage of cash in recent months, had held back vehicle development, but new sponsorship deals meant engineers could now resume their work on the hybrid jet and rocket propelled car.

October 2017 would mark the 20th anniversary of the current land speed record - 763mph (1,228km/h), set by Thrust SSC in the US desert, which Bloodhound intended to raise to 800mph, running in South Africa.

The new sponsors were not being identified immediately, though their support had put the UK project on a solid financial footing.

"We now have the most vision of forward-funding that we've ever had," said components chief Conor La Grue, BBC reported.

"In the past, we've only ever really had funding to plan two to three months ahead.

"We're now in a position to go all the way through to taking the record."

While the rocket itself would be sourced from the Nammo company in Norway, but it would use a Bloodhound-designed gearbox and pump driven by a Jaguar V8.

Engineers that were let go during the hibernation are being reinducted and outstanding components needed to fully finish the vehicle were being ordered.

The near-complete car was showcased at Canary Wharf in London last September and had since then been relocated at Bloodhound's technical HQ in Bristol.

Now with new sponsors on board, the Bloodhound team aims to hit 800mph as it broke the sound barrier and zoomed across the South African desert next year.

The 13.5-metre-long supersonic car would be  broken down into its 3,500 bespoke components and reassembled as engineers put together a Bloodhound user manual in case the car needed to be repaired while it was being tested.

The Bloodhound will be powered by a jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon that would take it up to speeds of a few hundred miles per hour before a cluster of Nammo rockets kicked in to boost the vehicle past 800mph.

The engines would, between them, deliver 135,000 horsepower, equivalent to 180 Formula 1 cars.