Ride Onboard The 334MPH Bloodhound During Butt-Clenching Practice Run
How fast is scary fast? I suppose it depends on the car. 100mph in a little old Fiesta can feel like 1,000mph in a Bentley. The suspension shakes, the steering wheel twists in your hands, and the engine screams in agony as it revs to the sky to hit that tonne.
100mph in a Bugatti Chiron is extremely relaxing, I’m told. It’s built for cruising at a speed of which most cars couldn’t imagine with soft leather and carbon weaves to keep your heart from beating out of your ribcage. The car wants you to push harder, but the harder you push, the more you can relax and trust in the engineering of the chassis to keep you safe.
The Bloodhound is very different. 250mph, hell, 300mph is nothing to it, but the human inside must be able to process moving at a speed humans where never supposed to go. Andy Green, its driver, should be described only as a super human after reaching the speed of 334mph, and guess what? That’s only a practice.
Something as simple as a sidewind can knock the vehicle off course, and as you can see at the 4:41, a large amount of opposite lock was used to maintain a straight course. Green says he never wants to drive with sidewinds again, and we don’t blame him.
Despite the thing being powered by a jet engine, the whole video seems calm, but yet I’m still clenching and I finished watching the video about five minutes ago. A hearty congratulations to the team and to Andy Green. We can’t wait to see what tis bird really can do.
