THE world’s fastest man on wheels will be in Grahamstown this week to explain his latest venture. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Not content with his existing 1228km/h world record, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Wing Commander Andy Green, is hoping to raise the bar by another 400km – or 444 metres a second – in South Africa by 2015.
Eagerly counting the days until he arrives in the City of Saints for the annual Scifest Africa extravaganza which starts on Wednesday, an excited Green said there was more to breaking land speed records than just going fast.
“It’s a chance to inspire the next generation about the wonders of science and technology – we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this.”
Within the next two years, Green and the highly specialised global team working on the mega-money Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) project are hoping to turn their dreams into reality at a remote saltpan in the northern Cape – using cutting edge data gathered from all over the world.
According to Dave Rowley, director of the Bloodhound education programme in South Africa, a major key to convincingly increasing the land speed record was getting the world involved with the project.
“That is why we are sharing the research, data, design, manufacture and testing of the car with as many educators, learners and students as possible around the world.”
Travelling faster than the speed of sound, one mistake will mean certain death for Green – but he is not fazed.
Asked if he ever gets scared going so fast, the jet ace said: “No. It is an amazing, exciting and challenging experience.”
Burning across the specially raked salt pan at 1.6 kilometres every 3.6 seconds – or four-and-a-half football fields a second – it is obvious mom’s second hand Corolla will not hack it when it comes to breaking the record.
Instead, Bloodhound designers in England have opted for a state of the art, seven ton flyer that is 14m long.
The 135000 horsepower “missile” has as much grunt as 160 Formula 1 cars.
Green’s existing land speed record was set in 1997 when he reached 1228km/h and broke the sound barrier.
Hakskeenpan was chosen as the perfect venue after a worldwide search.
According to Green, the quality of work going into Bloodhound made a 400km/h increase a realistic target.
“We’re very proud to be bringing the world’s fastest car to South Africa and very grateful for all the support and help we are receiving. This is going to be an amazing engineering adventure in an amazing country.”
Scifest Africa starts on Wednesday 13 March and runs for six days. —
New attempt at land speed record in SA
Not content with his existing 1228km/h world record, Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Wing Commander Andy Green, is hoping to raise the bar by another 400km – or 444 metres a second – in South Africa by 2015.
Eagerly counting the days until he arrives in the City of Saints for the annual Scifest Africa extravaganza which starts on Wednesday, an excited Green said there was more to breaking land speed records than just going fast.
“It’s a chance to inspire the next generation about the wonders of science and technology – we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this.”
Within the next two years, Green and the highly specialised global team working on the mega-money Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) project are hoping to turn their dreams into reality at a remote saltpan in the northern Cape – using cutting edge data gathered from all over the world.
According to Dave Rowley, director of the Bloodhound education programme in South Africa, a major key to convincingly increasing the land speed record was getting the world involved with the project.
“That is why we are sharing the research, data, design, manufacture and testing of the car with as many educators, learners and students as possible around the world.”
Travelling faster than the speed of sound, one mistake will mean certain death for Green – but he is not fazed.
Asked if he ever gets scared going so fast, the jet ace said: “No. It is an amazing, exciting and challenging experience.”
Burning across the specially raked salt pan at 1.6 kilometres every 3.6 seconds – or four-and-a-half football fields a second – it is obvious mom’s second hand Corolla will not hack it when it comes to breaking the record.
Instead, Bloodhound designers in England have opted for a state of the art, seven ton flyer that is 14m long.
The 135000 horsepower “missile” has as much grunt as 160 Formula 1 cars.
Green’s existing land speed record was set in 1997 when he reached 1228km/h and broke the sound barrier.
Hakskeenpan was chosen as the perfect venue after a worldwide search.
According to Green, the quality of work going into Bloodhound made a 400km/h increase a realistic target.
“We’re very proud to be bringing the world’s fastest car to South Africa and very grateful for all the support and help we are receiving. This is going to be an amazing engineering adventure in an amazing country.”
Scifest Africa starts on Wednesday 13 March and runs for six days. —
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