One giant (supersonic) leap for science

Imagine getting from Johannesburg to Cape Town in less than an hour, faster than the speed of sound.

Yes, you’d be travelling faster than a speeding bullet, laughingly streaking ahead of Superman himself. This is the kind of speed Bloodhound SSC is striving for, and this magnificent monstrous machine will be looking to break the land speed record in South Africa in two years’ time.

“This (Bloodhound) is about climbing Everest. This is about Neil Armstrong setting that first foot on the moon,” MTN’s Eben Albertyn said at the cockpit launch held at the mobile operator’s world headquarters, in Fairland, on 13 June.

Bloodhound SSC is the British-South African global project to build a supersonic car that will not only flatten the current land speed world record but also smash the 1 609 km/h barrier.

This project, commonly touted as science’s ‘moon-landing’ for the 21st century, is set to roll out in the UK in 2015 for testing, and the real

1 609 km/h target is projected to hit the dunes in South Africa a year later.

“This is a massive media project. We’re sharing the event with the world real time,” Albertyn said at the live broadcast from Britain.

The reason for the feat of science’s presence on South African soil is our topography. Why South Africa?

“This machine will be travelling at twice the speed of sound. We needed a really flat surface able to sustain the force of a jet engine on a higher altitude with less air density and [thus] less drag,” he explained.

The Bloodhound team scoured the whole world looking for the perfect track for this technological beast. The track for the record attempt needed to be at least 19.312 km long, 3.2187 km wide and perfectly flat. Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape was the only place on the globe to fit these requirements. Even so, the ‘track’ had to be modified.

“Besides the location, South Africa has a unique footprint in this British-led project. We’re in charge of communications,” Poynting Antennas’ Eduard Walker enthused.

“We’re designing the communications system for the Bloodhound, to stream videos and send data from the cockpit. South Africa has so many outstanding engineers and IT-professionals.”

Poynting is in charge of designing the eight antennas ‘the world’s fastest broadcasting studio’ will be sporting.

Emcom Professional Radio Communications (another South African company) is responsible for the cockpit’s state-of-the-art mobile radio which will link to control centre.

And MTN – the only South African operator with reception in the pan – is constructing the highly advanced LTE network that will put Bloodhound and its record attempt in touch with the rest of the world.

This monster of a car – can it even be called a car? – has specs that will make any motor enthusiast faint. The Bloodhound boasts three engines – a Rolls Royce jet engine, a cluster of hybrid rockets and racing car engine.

The newly-unveiled cockpit was handcrafted and designed to create shockwaves to slow the airflow. It’s going to be loud in the cockpit, but above 1 207 km/h the car will literally outrun the speed of sound. The technological innovations are astounding and plentiful.

The current world land speed record of 1 227.9km/h is held by Thrust SSC. Bloodhound’s project director Richard Noble and its driver Andy Green were both in the Thrust team, driving and powering the previous record. Green is a jet pilot, but even those high speeds in fast jet planes pale in comparison to Bloodhound’s.

Bloodhound isn’t only the ultimate dream toy for boys though. “It’s about the children of South Africa and the world, and getting them excited about technology. It’s about making them passionate about science,” Albertyn said.

To this end, schools across the world have been invited to join in on the live events and learn about science with Bloodhound ambassadors visiting schools.

“Currently, most of the South African schools involved in the event are based in the Northern Cape, because that’s where the Bloodhound track is,” Bloodhound media liaison officer Schalk Mouton said.

“But soon we’ll be coming to schools near you.”