Former Hartlepool man getting ready to break own world record in supersonic rocket car

A former Hartlepool man will attempt to smash the land speed record next year exactly 20 years after he set the current record.
Bloodhound Project driver Andy Green inside the cockpit of the vehicle.Bloodhound Project driver Andy Green inside the cockpit of the vehicle.
Bloodhound Project driver Andy Green inside the cockpit of the vehicle.

Andy Green will be in the cockpit of the Bloodhound supersonic car when it attempts to reach up to 1,000mph in the South African desert in October next year.

It will be 20 years since Andy, who grew up in Hartlepool in the 1970s, set the existing record at 763mph which remains unchallenged.

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The team behind the Bloodhound Project had hoped to try to break the record this year but it had to be put on hold while major funding deals were still being hammered out.

But they have now been agreed and trials of the custom-built rocket car will start soon.

Project director Richard Noble said: “This is probably the biggest moment in the project’s history. Before we could only see financially a few months ahead but now we can put our foot down and really go for it!

“We have come through this difficult stage wiser, leaner and fitter.

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“Bloodhound is now in Race Preparation which means the pace and the pressure will ramp up but so too will the sense of satisfaction as we head towards our car breaking the sound barrier for the first time, with the world watching.”

Andy, who went to High Tunstall Comprehensive School, set the current land speed record in the Thrust supersonic car at Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA, in 1997.

Thousands of car enthusiasts got their first look at the Bloodhound car when it went on display in London last September.

A team of engineers will now disassemble the car, make modifications and where necessary make new parts ready for testing at Newquay Aerohub.

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One of the main aims of the project has also been to inspire the country’s next generation of engineers by working closely with schools.

Andy said in his latest blog: “I’m excited by the thought that we’re finally getting Bloodhound ready to run.”