Bloodhound SSC 1,000 Mph Car Gets A Bullet-Proof Exterior

The world's first 1,000 mph car, the Bloodhound SSC, just became bullet-proof. This car isn't going to hit the highway in a hail of gunfire, obviously. It plans to break the World Land Speed Record in 2016. At 1000 mph, the wheels will be doing 10,000 rpm, which is 167 revolutions per second. Going that fast, any tiny rock kicked up from the car could become a lethal projectile, derailing the entire run and killing its driver, Andy Green. The Bloodhound's design team is most concerned that a chunks of metal could get dislodged from the wheels themselves and then fly towards the cockpit at incredible speeds.

Creating a ballistic-proof exterior has its own set of engineering challenges. The Bloodhound is designed to go as fast as possible, so the material needs to be as light as possible while still keeping the car and driver safe from projectiles. The engineering team created panels made from millions of tightly woven tightly woven glass threads. The panels had to be curved to fit the surface of the car.

The Bloodhound is more than just supercharged, as it runs on two ridiculously powerful engines. The first is a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine which is the same engine used to power Typhoon fighter jets, and the second engine is an actual rocket engine that is normally reserved for space travel.

The Bloodhound car-rocket hybrid has been in the works since 2011. The Bloodhound is designed by Andy Green who is looking to break his own World Land Speed Record that he set in 1997, driving at 763 mph. There are many reasons why it hasn't had an official test run yet, safety being the largest concern. The team wants to make certain that the Bloodhound doesn't become a deathtrap when it finally attempts to break the land speed record in 2016.

You can watch the team's ballistic tests right here.

Source: Wired