Bloodhound speed record bid launch

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Typhoon, lake bed, 1,000mph - all the makings of an expensive day at the races for a car insurance company if it all goes horribly wrong.

But the British team behind the proposed Bloodhound SSC attempt to smash the land-speed record to pieces is confident that everything is going to go according to plan.

Not only does it have an EJ200 jet engine from the Eurofighter, but also the largest hybrid rocket ever designed in the UK - 400kg and 14ft long.

In 2011, the combined thrust, the equivalent of 180 Formula One cars, will propel Wing Commander Andy Green across a dried-up lake bed at Hakskeen Pan, in South Africa's Northern Cape Province.

The project has the backing of 2,410 schools, where children are inspired to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and Bloodhound supporters have so far raised £137,000.

The car has gone through 10 design evolutions at a site in Bristol Docklands, and the prototype rocket has already been successfully fired in California's Mojave desert.

All going well, the supersonic car will demolish the 763mph record set by Thrust SSC in 1997.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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