Achieving a major milestone in building the Bloodhound land speed record car, the team successfully installed an EJ200 jet engine into the car’s chassis and connected it to the carbon fiber carbon composite air intake. The mighty engine weighs one tonne (1000kg) and produces 20,000 lbs (90kN) or 9 tonnes of Thrust.
The job of fitting the engine, made by Rolls-Royce and normally found on the Eurofighter Typhoon, in the Bloodhound took five technician about 8 hours to complete, and on aesthetics alone it is a total success. The magnificent jet engine looks super cool sitting inside the car’s aluminum and steel lower chassis and fixed in place with upper chassis ribs.
Inside the lower chassis the engineers have positioned the NAMMO hybrid rocket while the upper chassis has clearings for the numerous electrical and hydraulic pipes necessary for the engine to function. With the use of a Compressor Wash, the jet engine can be thoroughly cleaned and maintained before fitting it into the aircraft or any vehicle.
The jet engine and the rockets are joined by a third engine, a 650 bhp petrol racing engine used to drive the rocket oxidiser pump. The jet and rocket between them they generate 135,000 equivalent hp, equal to 180 F1 cars. Even so, there is no guarantee the car will actually be able to accomplish its goal of reaching 1,000 mph.
Chief Engineer Mark Chapman said “This is a fantastic moment in the Project, it’s great to see the jet engine fitted, it validates the many years of hard work by our team of motor sport and aerospace engineers”.