BLOODHOUND SSC
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Rossetts Commercials and Arthur Spriggs & Sons provide the road transport function for the latest project masterminded by land speed record-breaker Richard Noble. Rossetts provides a new Actros – which is operated by Spriggs – and a Sprinter. Bloodhound SSC’s headline function is to become the first vehicle to exceed 1,000mph on land, in the more-than-capable hands of Wing Commander Andy Green. Green is currently the holder of the 20-year-old world land speed record, with the 763mph Thrust SSC, and the driver of the JCB Dieselmax – at 350mph, the fastest diesel car in the world.
There is far more to Bloodhound SSC than a jingoistic bit of machismo, though. In the same way that the Nasa space programme inspired a generation to work in technology, so Richard Noble’s vision is to do the same here and now. More than 4,000 schools have already signed up to the Bloodhound Education Programme.
After two years of design and fundraising with a mock-up car, the project is beginning to assemble the actual record-attempt car, while the laborious task continues of clearing 6,000 tonnes of stones by hand from a 12-mile stretch of desert at the record-attempt venue at Hakskeen Pan in South Africa.
● Find out more at www.bloodhoundssc.com, and there will be a closer look at Rossetts’ and Spriggs’ role in a forthcoming issue of Truck & Driver.