Bloodhound car has 800mph target in its sights for 2021

By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent

Media captionA taster from BBC correspondent Andrew Harding's Bloodhound film

"We're 99% sure this car is capable of a land speed record that begins with the number 8."

Mark Chapman, chief engineer on the Bloodhound car, is reflecting on the vehicle's high-speed trials this past November.

The arrow-shaped racer reached a top speed of 628mph (1,010km/h) on the mudbed of Hakskeen Pan, South Africa, before packing up to head home to England.

The team is now engaged in a review of all the data gathered during testing - from the roughly 200 air-pressure sensors dotted around the car, plus a multitude of strain gauges, temperature readers and accelerometers.

"We've only been looking at it for a couple of weeks, but there's nothing I've seen that says Bloodhound can't do 800mph (1,290km/h)," says Chapman.

The current world best, which has stood for more than 20 years, is 763mph (1,228km/h).

You can see how the trials progressed in an exclusive film to be broadcast this weekend on the BBC News Channel and BBC World.

Data pulldown — Image captionThe team now has a great volume of data with which to plan the next phase

What should be telling is how, overall, the trials were conducted without any major incidents.

The team could be forgiven for anticipating a stream of technical glitches when it arrived in the Kalahari Desert. It certainly had some.

But the schedule of runs designed to achieve a steady, stepwise increase in speed broadly held together.

And only once did engineers have to perform a full strip-down of the vehicle to overhaul a problematic engine bay over-heat alarm system.

Bloodhound running — Image captionThe length of track this year allowed the car to get up to 628mph and then slow and stop safely

"It was a high-stakes gamble to be honest in taking Bloodhound out there, but I wanted to prove that this car and this team could do it," says businessman Ian Warhurst, who bought Bloodhound out of administration at the beginning of 2019.

"We could have gone out there and been unable to run the car properly, and we'd have returned home with no following and been forced to close the project down. But it was fantastic and the engagement we saw was amazing."

Engine bay heating concern — Image captionAn engine bay overheat alarm eventually required a stripdown of the vehicle

There's a lot of work ahead, however.

First, Bloodhound needs sponsorship. Warhurst's calculation is that £8m is required to break the land speed record.

The Yorkshireman says his conversations with interested parties have been boosted by the successful trials.

The money will cover operations but also the R&D to enable Bloodhound to carry a rocket.

Rocket discussion — Image captionA hole in the back of the car is ready to receive a rocket motor from the Nammo company

To achieve 800mph, the car needs five to six tonnes of thrust on top of the nine tonnes it already receives from a Eurofighter jet engine.

The extra power will come from a booster supplied by the Norwegian aerospace company Nammo. But Bloodhound's engineers must develop the pump that feeds this rocket with a high-test peroxide monopropellant.

And the new system will have an electric element - a battery or supercapacitor to run the motor that drives the pump. Bloodhound is about to become a hybrid vehicle.

"I want an electric solution," says Chapman. "We've talked about this for a few years and it's clear now there are quite a few options out there. It's a question of seeing what we can package into the car."

Image captionSouth Africa correspondent Andrew Harding presents the BBC film

The team left South Africa saying it would return either in late 2020 or in mid-2021 to try to break the land speed record.

The R&D and sponsorship schedules suggest 2021 is the more realistic timeframe.

Another influential factor is the Kalahari weather.

The rain season arrives in November and December, and has the potential to flood Hakskeen Pan. That's a good thing because it washes away tracks and resets the lakebed surface, but the car can't run in such conditions.

You have to wait then until the dryness of winter returns.

"It takes time to do the R&D and get the parts made, so it looks like we'll miss that window towards the end of 2020," says Warhurst. "But we need to keep things moving, to work to very clear timelines. Sponsors want to know when you're going to do it. We haven't finalised things yet because we need to work through the plan, but it will be in 2021, once we get past the wet season."

Bloodhound: Chasing the Land Speed Record will be broadcast first on Saturday on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News, but there will be other opportunities to catch the film in the coming weeks.