The world’s first ever supersonic car, presently in the making, has breached the 500mph (804km/h) — 50 per cent of the speed the Bloodhound Supersonic car will ultimately travel.
The Bloodhound Project started the 12-month countdown last week to its first land speed record attempt and celebrated Jaguar joining the programme as innovation partner, by staging a high-speed communications test at Hakskeen Pan, South Africa.
An L39 jet aircraft flew multiple passes down Bloodhound’s specially prepared desert track, synchronised with the new All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupe driven by project director Richard Noble and a Jaguar XF saloon, at closing speeds of up to 500mph.
The cars carried the same equipment that will stream data, voice and imagery live from the Bloodhound Supersonic Car during test runs and record attempts in 2015 and 2016.
The cockpit of Bloodhound SSC — the most advanced fusion of space, aeronautical and Formula 1 engineering ever attempted, was unveiled recently in Bristol.
It aims to run at 1000 miles per hour (1,609km/h).