Latest News
1000mph Bloodhound SSC revealed
24 October 2008
RAF Wing Commander Andy Green is the man who’ll attempt to breach the 1000mph mark in the incredible Bloodhound SSC.
Already the world land speed record holder after reaching 763mph in the Thrust SSC back in 1996, Green, now 46, will be closing in on his 50th birthday when he attempts this latest potentially record-shattering run.
So is he worried his reactions won’t be sharp enough? Doesn’t he want a quieter life? Not a bit of it. Green will prepare for the extreme g-forces of a 1050mph land speed attempt by flying upside down at high speed over the British countryside in his hobby aerobatics aircraft.
>> See more pictures of the Bloodhound SSC
>> Exclusive interview: Andy Green
>> More on the 1000mph Bloodhound
He’ll also prepare his brain to rapidly process data from the Bloodhound’s three information screens using an RAF Typhoon flight simulator. Oh, and he’ll be skydiving too – just for fun.
Green’s background is as a fighter pilot whose seen action in F4 Phantoms at the end of the Cold War and Tornados during conflicts in the Falklands, Bosnia and Iraq. An Oxford graduate who studied maths, Green admits he breaks processes down and analyses them to the Nth degree.
Crucially, Green will be spending more time in road and racing cars. He’s worked with Jonathan Palmer at the Bedford Autodrome before and describes the fast track-driving techniques he learnt there as "incredibly valuable".
Green tells us that, while the sensation of driving at 700mph is different, the principles behind correcting a Porsche 911 in a 100mph four-wheel drift translate directly to controlling a 12-metre long jet car.
He should know. On his way to the 763mph record in Thrust, Green felt the enormous record-breaking car slew sideways 15 metres as it breached the speed of sound. What would you do? Panic, perhaps? Not Green. He calmly corrected it with 90 degrees of opposite lock and reported the moment on the radio as “nothing to worry about”. He’ll now admit taking a deep breath and hoping "his mum doesn’t find out about this [Bloodhound Project]."
These experiences will serve as vital practice for the fastest land run of his life. When the Bloodhound charges from 0 to 1050mph - when its Eurofighter jet engine engages and the British-built rocket on its roof ignites - Wing Commander Green will be subjected to more than 2.5G. And when he hits the brakes he expects forces beyond 3G, causing the blood to drain from his brain. It’s then that Green is at the greatest risk of blacking out.
F1 drivers experience comparable forces in races during shorter bursts of maximum acceleration, but Green will have to endure this for a full 85 seconds. It’s a feeling he describes as ‘very uncomfortable’. He’ll be following an RAF muscle-squeeze training regime that should help keep him conscious.
Green also admits that – despite all the tests and simulations – travelling at 1000mph in a car conceals great unknowns. Just sussing out how the car will behave at a speed between when the mechanical grip runs out and when the aerodynamic down-force takes over is difficult to gauge without doing it.
But there are few better qualified than the veteran fighter pilot to deal with the challenges the Bloodhound run will present. Funding is the only thing that could hold the project back. So is Green confident they can reach 1050mph? The answer is unequivocal: "We’ve got a great team. So absolutely."
Will Powell
Your say
