An Unexpected Turn: Bloodhound SSC project gets last-minute funding

More than ten years ago, British company Bloodhound announced it was going to build the fastest-going land vehicle in history. The engineer team said they wanted to create world’s first supersonic car that would accelerate to 1,609 km/h (1,000 mph).

However, the project met with overpowering financial issues and eventually had to switch to external management to avoid bankruptcy. Even so, its managers have repeatedly said over the course of the past several months that it was going to be discontinued permanently in any event.

Well, it seems like there’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the Bloodhound SSC fans over the world. Several private investors interfered at the last minute, expressing their willingness to rescue the Bloodhound project and ultimately see it through to completion.

The 13.5-meter (44.3-ft) long supersonic car has managed to accelerate to 320 km/h (200 mph) this autumn. The developer team had initially planned to take it past 800 km/h (500 mph) next year and follow up with a record-breaking run on the surface of a dried-out lake in the South African Republic in 2020.

Back in 2010, the company used to estimate the total project costs at U.S. $8,300,000. As the development went by, however, the sum ultimately grew to U.S. $75,700,000. Revitalization costs are currently estimated at U.S. $31,500,000 or more.

Photo: motor1.com