Creating a car designed to break the land speed record and clock 1000 mph like the Bloodhound SSC can only be successful with the perfect team, the perfect car and the perfect conditions on the day. The Bloodhound SSC project was first announced in late 2008, and first testing of the car isn’t scheduled until next year. If all goes well, then the car will attempt to break the existing 763 mph record.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7x9vbPeHU#t=21[/youtube]
Of course, actually rocketing the SSC to 1000 mph on land requires some of the world’s best engineers and some incredible power. However, ensuring that the SSC can come to a stop properly and complete two runs in different directions is of crucial importance as well.
The team behind the Bloodhound SSC are currently in the process of developing and evaluating the massive brakes set to be featured on the SSC. Thanks to air brakes and parachutes slowing the car down efficiently from its top speed, the traditional brakes will only have to stop the car from 160 mph. However, at top speed, the car’s steel wheels will be spinning at 10,000 rpm and normal brakes cannot withstand this sort of stress.
As a matter of fact, carbon discs borrowed from a fighter jet couldn’t withstand more than 5000 rpm. As a result, the crew is currently looking at steel discs from AP Racing and while the 10,000 rpm run has yet to be done, everything is looking good with the discs surviving 4.6 kilowatts of energy in early testing.
