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Gloucestershire Business News

Bid for world land speed record to be driven from Gloucestershire

The quest to break the world land speed record will be driven from a new home in Gloucestershire.

The newly-formed Bloodhound Land Speed Record team have moved into a new facility at the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College's Berkeley Green University Technical College campus.

The project to build a car capable of breaking the 1,000 mph barrier went into administration at the end of 2018.

It was brought back to life by Yorkshire-based entrepreneur Ian Warhurst late in 2018 and now a new team will work on developing the jet and rocket-powered car.

And that will take place in Gloucestershire with the car arriving at a 975 square metre workshop at the Berkeley campus that has been renamed as The UK Land Speed Record Centre.

Speaking at an event celebrating the move to the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park, Ian Warhurst said how excited he was about Bloodhound's future.


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He said: "Since buying Bloodhound from the administrators last December, the team and I have been overwhelmed by the passion and enthusiasm the public have shown for the project.

"Over the last decade, an incredible amount of hard graft has been invested in the project and it would be a tragedy to see it go to waste.

"Starting with a clean slate, it's my ambition to let Bloodhound off the leash see just how fast this car can go."

As well as a new home in the county, Bloodhound will have a new livery and new sponsors as it goes to the next stages of high-speed testing.

The new location in the heart of the college's campus will also allow the project to deliver on inspiring and education future scientists and engineers at the cutting edge of achievement.

SGS Berkeley Green UTS group chief executive and executive principal Kevin Hamblin said; "We're excited that Bloodhound is joining us at Berkeley.

"To have such a ground-breaking engineering project on site which shares our philosophy to enthuse and encourage the next generation of engineers, designers and scientists, will be invaluable

"Also, for thousands of young people across the region who will have an opportunity to visit the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park over the next few years and see the car."

The most important man on the team - the driver - remains unchanged, with Andy Green, the current world land speed record holder, still committed to Bloodhound.

A number of key engineers and other team members have also transferred to the new team, allowing for smooth transition as it looks to break the current record of 763.035 mph.

Former CEO of the Bloodhound Programme, Richard Noble said: "It was a very hard fight to create the Bloodhound car, the largest STEM programme in the UK.

"With Ian Warhurst the team finally has the financial support it needs to drive forward with confidence and achieve what we set out to do nearly 12 years ago."

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