The Dream Lives Again: 135,000-HP ultimate car project secures new funding

English businessman Ian Warhurst has saved the unfortunate Bloodhound Project from bankruptcy. The project centered on building a 135,000-horsepower (100,000-kW) strong hypercar received around £25,000,000 in investment – hopefully enough to repay all the debts and see the monstrous vehicle to its completion.

Warhurst renamed the initiative to “Grafton LSR Ltd”, referencing the famous painting called “Dignity and Impudence” by British painter Edwin Landseer.

For those of you who missed the news, the creators of the Bloodhound hypercar aim to set a new world record for land vehicle speed.

Shortly after the investment, former Formula 1 Financial Manager Ewen Honeyman joined the project team. Some changes were also made in certain secondary aspects: for example, the car is now called Bloodhound LSR and wears a red-and-white racing livery. Later on, it will be adorned with sponsor and supporter logos.

To put things into perspective, consider that the ultrasonic land vehicle is 13.5 meters (~44 ft.) long, weighs in at around 8 metric tons (~17,500 lb.) and packs a sophisticated powertrain consisting of a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and a hybrid rocket engine.

During its first test run back in 2017, the car accelerated to 322 km/h (200 mph). Breaking the absolute world record in terms of top going speed would necessitate crossing the 1228 km/h (763 mph) mark, so there is still much left to do. At the time of the writing, the car is being prepared to its next series of tests in South Africa.

Photos: autocar.co.uk