Ultrasonic Bloodhound LSR goes to South Africa for more testing

The team responsible for building the Bloodhound LSR, a 135,000-horsepower ultrasonic hypercar, is taking the unique vehicle to South Africa for another series of tests. It will then attempt to accelerate it past 1,227 km/h (762 mph).

There was a time when Bloodhound Programme Ltd. fringed on bankruptcy. In fact, in the fall of 2018, it was found insolvent and had to close. The ambitious project for the fastest-going land vehicle in the history of mankind was put on hold. Luckily, a major investor decided to rescue the project in March 2019, paid all the debts and re-hired the team.

The record-breaking race will take place in 2020. The actual target speed remains a cause for controversy, since doubts exist concerning the practical acceleration capacity of the car. In any case, though, it would have to go past 1,227 km/h (762 mph) to break the previous high score set by Andy Green piloting the unique Thrust SSC in 1997.

The Bloodhound LSR weighs in at eight metric tons (17,500+ lbs) and packs a 135,000-horsepower (100-megawatt) powertrain. Its ultimate goal is to achieve 1,610 km/h (1,000 mph), but no one volunteers any time estimations for that objective at this point.