Rolls-Royce officially confirmed that they are now part of the Bloodhound project, an educational campaign that promotes science and engineering through a 1,000 mph World Land Speed Record attempt. RR will supply the SSC with a EJ200 jet engine, which joins the hybrid rockets on the supersonic car to push it beyond 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h or Mach 1.4).

The Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine, normally used to power Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, makes 20,000lb 90 kN thrust, which is a lot. Seeing a Rolls-Royce logo on a speed machine may seem a bit odd but the British company actually has a long history of breaking speed records.

The most distinguished attempts at breaking speed records on land, sea and in the air that Rolls-Royce has been associated with include 1930’s ‘Type R’ engine powered Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird cars and boats, Capt. George Eyston’s Thunderbolt car, Sir Henry Segrave’s Miss England II boat and the Supermarine S6B sea plane of Flt Lt John Boothman, outright winner of the Schnieder Trophy in 1931. More recently in 1983, Richard Noble, now BLOODHOUND’s Project Director, used a Rolls-Royce Avon 302 1983 in Thrust 2 to set a record of 633.047 mph (1,019.47 km h).

Apart from the technical support, Rolls-Royce will also play a major role in Bloodhound educational campaign. They will sent 56 trained Rolls-Royce BLOODHOUND ambassadors to schools all over Britain to help inspire young students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by showing them how exciting it can be.