The Bloodhound Land Speed Record (LSR) team has been in South Africa for a few days now testing the LSR car in the Northern Cape ahead of its record attempt next year. In the video below you can watch as Bloodhound blasts to 537 km/h, its fastest speed to date. Its previous high speed was 322 km/h. Incidentally, that speed makes it the fastest car to ever travel on the ground on local soil.

Check out previous links to Bloodhound LSR articles on our site here.

Slowly slowly

The team in charge of Bloodhound LSR has two objectives: to break the current record of 1 227,9 km/h held by Thrust SSC driven by the same man tasked with driving Bloodhound, Andy Green. If the team manages that feat, they will then aim to break through the 1 000 mph (1 609 km/h) mark. But to do so the team has to build up speed through various ‘run profiles’.

Profile one was up to 100 mph (160,9 km/h), building to 200 mph (322 km/h) – the previous top speed achieved in the UK in 2017. This week profile three was achieved hitting 334 mph (537,5 km/h). The car’s EJ200 jet engine ran with full afterburner for 12 seconds, demonstrating it is in full working order. The car’s speed will be built up in 50 mph (80 km/h) increments over subsequent runs, carried out over the next four weeks.  A target top speed above 500 mph (800 km/h) is the goal for the testing programme.

The first few runs on the desert have proved the track surface is consistently firm, with a slight soft crust in some areas. This crust flakes away to leave a solid surface to run the car. The racetrack was prepared by a 317 strong workforce from the local community.

In his own words

Bloodhound driver and current world land speed record holder Andy Green said: “We’ve had two very successful runs today, with the second run reaching a max speed of 334 mph – going from 50 mph to 300 mph in 13 seconds. There was strong crosswind gusting at over 15 mph and we’ve established that this is pretty much the limit for running in the car. We’re happy because this was a successful test, now we’re ready to progress on to higher speeds.”

Bloodhound LSR CEO Ian Warhurst said: “I’ve been impressed with the tenacity of the team to work through a challenging first week of testing in the Kalahari Desert. With all those issues resolved it’s exciting to be moving into the high-speed phase of the testing and get a max reheat run under our belts. Witnessing Bloodhound blasting from 50 mph to 300 mph in 13 seconds and on to 334 mph was jaw-dropping. British engineering at its finest.”

Watch as Bloodhound Blasts to 537 km/h in the video below.