1. Essential Skills Application of Number Level 2
Matthew Evanson
.
Bloodhound SSC

2. Intro
Bloodhound SSC is a project launched in December 2008 which aims to build a car and
break the world land speed record by achieving 1,050 mph. The project is led by Richard
Noble and the car will be driven by Andy Green.
The car will be powered by a jet engine, from a Eurofighter Typhoon, and a rocket. The
plan is to uses the jet engine to get the car to around 300 mph before igniting the rocket
to get the car above 1000 mph.
The jet engine will have a total thrust of 20,000 LBS of thrust. The rocket will add 25,000
IBS which the team behind the project hope will give them enough to break the record.
This will give the car a total thrust of 55,000 LBS. The ratio between the rocket and the
jet engine would be 5:4. or 55% to 45%
There will also be a Cosworth Formula 1 engine powering the fuel pump to feed fuel to
the rocket. The cars total mass will be 7780 KG with fuel and the driver. The car will
contain 1752 KG of fluids or 22%.
Total Weight of Bloodhound SSC Showing the Contribution Liquid Makes to the Total
Mass of the Car

3. History of Land Speed Records
Since the invention of the car, many people have broken the land speed record. In total
the record has been broken 59 times by 29 different people and 24 different cars:
A Table to Show Every Time the Land Speed Record has Been Broken
Year Location Car Diver Nationality
Speed
(M.P.H)
1898 Acheres Jeantaund Gaston de Chasseloup‐ Laubat France 39.240
1899 Acheres Jenatzy Camille Jenatzy Belgium 41.420
1899 Acheres Jeantaund Gaston de Chasseloup‐ Laubat France 43.690
1899 Acheres Jenatzy Camille Jenatzy Belgium 49.920
1899 Acheres Jeantaund Gaston de Chasseloup‐ Laubat France 57.600
1899 Acheres Jenatzy Camille Jenatzy Belgium 65.790
1902 Nice Serpollet Leon Serpollet France 75.060
1902 Ablis Mors William K.Vanderbilt USA 76.080
1902 Ablis Mors Henri Fournier France 76.600
1902 Ablis Mors Augieres France 77.130
1903 Ostend Gobron Brillie Arthur Duray USA 83.470
1903 Dourdan Gobron Brillie Arthur Duray USA 84.730
1904 Daytona Mercedes William K.Vanderbilt USA 92.300
1904 Nice Gobron Brillie Louis Rigolly France 94.780
1904 Ostend Mercedes Pierre de Caters Belgium 97.250
1904 Ostend Gobron Brillie Louis Rigolly France 103.550
1904 Ostend Darracq Paul Baras France 104.520
1905 Daytona Napier Arther E Macdonald France 104.650
1905 Arles‐Salon Darracq Victor Hemery France 109.650
1906 Daytona Stanley Fred Marriot USA 121.570
1909 Brooklands Benz Victor Hemery France 125.950
1910 Daytona Benz Barney Oldfield USA 131.275
1911 Daytona Benz Bob Burman USA 141.370
1914 Brooklands Benz L.G.Hornstead UK 144.100
1924 Arpajon Fiat Ernest Eldridge UK 146.010
1924 Pendine Sunbeam Malcolm Campbell UK 146.160
1925 Pendine Sunbeam Malcolm Campbell UK 150.760
1926 Southport Sunbeam Henry Segrave UK 152.330
1926 Pendine Babs J.G Parry Thomas UK 169.300
1926 Pendine Babs J.G Parry Thomas UK 171.020
1927 Pendine Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 174.883

4. 1927 Daytona Sunbeam Henry Segrave UK 203.792
1928 Daytona Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 206.956
1929 Daytona Golden Arrow Henry Segrave UK 231.446
1931 Daytona Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 246.090
1932 Daytona Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 253.970
1933 Daytona Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 272.460
1934 Daytona Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 276.820
1935 Bonneville Bluebird Malcolm Campbell UK 301.129
1937 Bonneville Thunderbolt Greg Eyston UK 312.000
1938 Bonneville Thunderbolt Greg Eyston UK 345.500
1938 Bonneville Railton Mobil Special John Cobb UK 350.200
1938 Bonneville Thunderbolt Greg Eyston UK 357.500
1939 Bonneville Railton Mobil Special John Cobb UK 369.700
1947 Bonneville Railton Mobil Special John Cobb UK 394.200
1963 Lake Eyre Bluebird Donald Campbell UK 403.100
1964 Bonneville Spirit of America Craig Breedlove USA 407.450
1964 Bonneville Wingfot Express Tom Green UK 413.200
1964 Bonneville Green Monster Art Arfons USA 434.020
1964 Bonneville Spirit of America Craig Breedlove USA 468.720
1964 Bonneville Spirit of America Craig Breedlove USA 526.280
1964 Bonneville Green Monster Art Arfons USA 536.710
1965 Bonneville Spirit of America Craig Breedlove USA 555.483
1965 Bonneville Green Monster Art Arfons USA 576.553
1965 Bonneville
Spirit of
America.Sonic 1 Craig Breedlove USA 600.601
1970 Bonneville The Blue Flame Gary Gabelich USA 622.407
1983 Black Rock Thrust 2 Richard Noble UK 633.468
1997 Black Rock Thrust SSC Andy Green UK 717.144
1997 Black Rock Thrust SSC Andy Green UK 763.035

5. 0.000
100.000
200.000
300.000
400.000
500.000
600.000
700.000
800.000
900.000
1898 1904 1927 1963 1997
Speed
(M.P.H)
Year
A Graph to Show the Speeds at Which
the Land Speed Record has Been Held
I have also created a graph to show how many times the record has been broken by
drivers from different countries. The UK currently leads with 27 times compared to 16
by the USA. Pendine sands in Camarthenshire has been used multiple times for breaking
land speed records due to the beach being very straight and long. When Thrust SSC was
being designed, tests were carried out at Pendine were they placed a model of the car
and put it on a rocket sledge to test the aerodynamic properties of the car.
I have also created a graph to show the progression of the record since the first one was
set in 1898.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
UK USA France Belgium
Times Record Broken
Countries
A Graph to Show the Number of Times
Each Country Has Broken the Land
Speed Record

6.
Analysing the Results
From looking at the line graph showing the different speeds, i think that progression has
been steady increasing exponentially. From 1898 to 1927, the graph isn’t very steep
which shows that progression was not very impressive which is probably because of the
lack of technology. From 1927 to 1997, the graph seems to get steeper but then its stays
at that steepness. I think that this is because as technology has got more advanced over
the last few years, the cars can go a lot faster. The first jet powered car was used in
1937 and I think that coincides with the graph increasing.
For example, the first car to break the land speed record was Gaston de Chasseloup‐
Laubat driving the Jeantaund. This car would have been made in 1898 so there wouldn’t
have been the computers and materials to build the car like there was for Thrust SSC. I
think therefore that in the future, the graph is going to get even steeper because as
technology increases, the speed of the cars will increase a lot more.

8. The Motion
During each run that the car makes, it is going to accelerate rapidly. This can be shown on the graphs below. I have added the labels
the black line through the graph indicating when the acceleration is zero.
A Graph to Show the Acceleration and Speed over Time of the Bloodhound during a Perfect Run

9. A Graph to Show the Acceleration and Speed over Distance of the Bloodhound during a Perfect Run

10. The graph gives the speed in meters per second. However, when looking at the speed of
cars, we tend to use miles or kilometres per hour. To convert meters per second into
kilometres per hour, I made the following formula:
If
1 mps = 3.6 kph
Then
S = S x 3.6
(S being the speed in meters per second)
From learning and understanding this formula, I was then able to convert the meters
per second measurement to kilometres per hour. To convert kilometres per hour to
miles per hour, I divided the number by eight and then timed it by five. I could then
complete this table. I have rounded these numbers to the nearest whole number.
Time Speed (mps) Speed (kph) Speed
(mph)
Rocket starts 18 133 479 299
Rocket stops 43 466 1678 1049
Jet engine stops 44 444 1598 999
Parachute 1 deployed 46 266 958 599
Parachute 2 deployed 54 177 637 398
Wheel brakes applied 63 111 400 250

11. Distance and Speed
In the graph below, I red divisions which I have added represent the distance of the
track in miles. I did this as I knew that 1.6 KM equalled a mile. There for if I could
complete this table and make the divisions on my graph.
Miles Kilometres
1 1.6
2 3.2
3 4.8
4 6.4
5 8.0
6 9.6
7 11.2
8 12.8
9 14.4
10 16
11 17.6
I was then able to measure the distance on my graph between each division and then
find the highest speed through that distance to show where the measured mile should
be. This is marked out in Blue.

12. Scale Diagram of the Track

13. Time
I was then asked to look at the time when the car enters the measured mile and when it
leaves, and whether it was half way. I believe that the car will enter the measured mile
at 40n seconds and leave at 44 seconds. The run will last for approximately 96 seconds
so the mile will not be half way.
Return run
In order for the car to make a record, it has got to turn around within an hour of the first
time being set, to make another run as an average. The car starts its return run from the
measured mile as this will give sufficient space for the car to accelerate.
The car will need to start at the 13.6km mark on the first run for its return run in order
to go through the measured mile at the optimum speed. I worked this out by looking
how far it has got to go from the measure mile to reach it optimum speed.

14.
Try It Yourself
In this section of my project I have been asked to construct a car that I made myself. I
then had to run it five times. This is the information I collected along with the speed
which I worked out by dividing the distance by the speed.
Distance (Meters) Time (S) Speed (Meters/S)
3.5 10.1 3.5/10.1 = 0.35
3.3 9.8 3.3/9.8 = 0.34
3.4 9.7 3.4/9.7 = 0.35
3.5 10.2 3.4/10.2 = 0.34
3.2 9.2 3.2/9.2 = 0.35
I then had to work out the average range and speed for the five runs I made:
Distance: 3.5+3.4+3.5+3.4+3.5= 16.3 /5 = 3.46
Time: 10.1+9.8+9.7+10.2+9.2=49 /5=9.8
This means the average speed was:
Average Speed: 3.3 / 9.8 = 0.33 M/S
To work out the range of the numbers, I needed to take the biggest away from the
smallest:
Distance: 3.5 – 3.4 =0.1
Time: 10.2‐9.2 = 1
Range Speed:0.3/1= 0.3 (M/S)
I would say that the mean is the best way to display my data because it gives a fair
representation of my results. You would only really use the median if there was a large
range in my results. For example, if there was a physical problem, such as the wheel
falling off, then I would use the median. Therefore, I chose to use the mean.

15.
I was then asked to make some improvements to my model to make it better:
Improvement 1: Bigger Balloon
Distance (M) Time (S) Speed (M/S)
4.1 8.9 0.46
4.3 9.3 0.46
3.9 9.1 0.43
4.3 9.2 0.47
4.2 9.5 0.44
Improvement 2: Bigger Wheels
Comparing these results to my original results, it shows that I was right to make these
improvements because both produced better results. The bigger wheels made the car
go slightly further but the bigger balloon made it go further and faster, so I think that it
was a better improvement. I also think that if I was to run this experiment again, I would
put both improvements on the car at the same time because I would expect the balloon
to make it go faster and the wheels further producing a more impressive result.
Bibliography
All images have been taken from the Bloodhound website:
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/. The originators are Curventa and Siemen.
Distance (M) Time (S) Speed (M/S)
3.7 10.6 0.35
3.6 10.5 0.34
3.8 10.9 0.35
3.6 10.8 0.33
3.5 10.4 0.34