Bloodhound axed!

not_the_dj

Arse!

Sadly the desire to be fastest just doesn't have the return on investment these days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46480342

BigMonka

Such a shame to fail when they've gone as far as the car being built and the test track made 

Sassafras

Looks like it would take up a few parking spaces:

axisus

I'm in two minds on this sort of thing. On one hand it seems like a colossal waste of money by men who still want to be kids. on the other hand ............. "yay! we're still kids you know!"

RandallFlagg

They could have asked Boris, he has £350M a week savings after Brexit.

Mark1960

Looks more like a rocket on wheels than a car to me!

not_the_dj

axisus said:

I'm in two minds on this sort of thing. On one hand it seems like a colossal waste of money by men who still want to be kids. on the other hand ............. "yay! we're still kids you know!"

There's been a massive educational programme running alongside the record breaking attempt. Inspiring young kids to go into engineering (STEM is the term they're using for science, technology, engineering and maths these days).

My kids have been involved in a few Bloodhound related projects, and as we live near Coventy they're very familiar with Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC (both housed at the Cov Motor Museum).

I guess this'll teach them that no matter how brave and forward thinking a project is, if it's not financially sound then it'll falter.

not_the_dj

Mark1960 said:

Looks more like a rocket on wheels than a car to me!

Well that's pretty much how you make a supersonic car

deano

I'm surprised that for just £25 million someone like Branson or that git from Tesla, who are both publicity-seeking addicts, didn't want to help it. Just for them to see their names on the side would have been worth it for them both.

Guitar_Slinger

£25m short? That's probably for the fuel used in four runs on the 18km track.

axisus

not_the_dj said:

axisus said:

I'm in two minds on this sort of thing. On one hand it seems like a colossal waste of money by men who still want to be kids. on the other hand ............. "yay! we're still kids you know!"

There's been a massive educational programme running alongside the record breaking attempt. Inspiring young kids to go into engineering (STEM is the term they're using for science, technology, engineering and maths these days).

My kids have been involved in a few Bloodhound related projects, and as we live near Coventy they're very familiar with Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC (both housed at the Cov Motor Museum).

I guess this'll teach them that no matter how brave and forward thinking a project is, if it's not financially sound then it'll falter.

Yeah, I was just being flippant, there's usually a lot of good stuff that comes out of this sort of thing. 

underdog

not_the_dj said:

axisus said:

I'm in two minds on this sort of thing. On one hand it seems like a colossal waste of money by men who still want to be kids. on the other hand ............. "yay! we're still kids you know!"

There's been a massive educational programme running alongside the record breaking attempt. Inspiring young kids to go into engineering (STEM is the term they're using for science, technology, engineering and maths these days).

My kids have been involved in a few Bloodhound related projects, and as we live near Coventy they're very familiar with Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC (both housed at the Cov Motor Museum).

I guess this'll teach them that no matter how brave and forward thinking a project is, if it's not financially sound then it'll falter.

Oddly enough one of these blood hound education projects was at my son's school today then I had to tell him they stopped doing it now, maybe should have kept my mouth shut.

ICBM

It seems a shame, given that this sort of thing does inspire new generations of high-tech engineers, but on the other hand I can think of more worthwhile ways of spending the same sort of money on the same general sort of technology, since really it's designed to do something of no practical purpose. Going that fast while sticking to the artificial constraint of staying on the ground is just making things difficult for yourself for no good reason really.

The UK once had a small space programme until it was cancelled by the government of the day... I think to this day we're the only nation which has developed a capability to launch a satellite and then voluntarily given it up.

Sporky

ICBM said:

The UK once had a small space programme until it was cancelled by the government of the day... I think to this day we're the only nation which has developed a capability to launch a satellite and then voluntarily given it up.

We do make some exceptional satellites though. Teeny tiny environmental remote sensing ones in particular.

stickyfiddle

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

The UK once had a small space programme until it was cancelled by the government of the day... I think to this day we're the only nation which has developed a capability to launch a satellite and then voluntarily given it up.

We do make some exceptional satellites though. Teeny tiny environmental remote sensing ones in particular.

We also make thick cut Oxford Marmalade, which is among mankind's most important inventions. 

boogieman

deano said:

I'm surprised that for just £25 million someone like Branson or that git from Tesla, who are both publicity-seeking addicts, didn't want to help it. Just for them to see their names on the side would have been worth it for them both.

Yup I was thinking the same, £25 million is probably peanuts to these guys. Bet there’s a few premier league footballers who could stump up the dough too. 

ArchtopDave

boogieman said:

deano said:

I'm surprised that for just £25 million someone like Branson or that git from Tesla, who are both publicity-seeking addicts, didn't want to help it. Just for them to see their names on the side would have been worth it for them both.

Yup I was thinking the same, £25 million is probably peanuts to these guys. Bet there’s a few premier league footballers who could stump up the dough too. 

Not enough space inside to drive a WAG to Primark.

Moominpapa

I've been following the posts on it for a couple of years now. It's a great project, a showpiece for British engineering, and has real educational value. To see them stopping for the lack of a lousy quarter million is heartbreaking. I really hope somebody (Dyson? Branson?) steps up and rescues the project.

boogieman

Moominpapa said:

I've been following the posts on it for a couple of years now. It's a great project, a showpiece for British engineering, and has real educational value. To see them stopping for the lack of a lousy quarter million is heartbreaking. I really hope somebody (Dyson? Branson?) steps up and rescues the project.

It’s 25 million they need not 250,000, but still not a great deal of money in the great scheme of things. 

Moominpapa

boogieman said:

Moominpapa said:

I've been following the posts on it for a couple of years now. It's a great project, a showpiece for British engineering, and has real educational value. To see them stopping for the lack of a lousy quarter million is heartbreaking. I really hope somebody (Dyson? Branson?) steps up and rescues the project.

It’s 25 million they need not 250,000, but still not a great deal of money in the great scheme of things. 

D'oh - my bad. But still, some fecker should give them the money. They're pushing technical boundaries and going round telling schoolkids about it and generally making high-level engineering sexy. If that doesn't deserve funding in a country that is supposedly trying to promote STEM subjects, then I don't know what does.

ThorpyFX

ICBM said:

It seems a shame, given that this sort of thing does inspire new generations of high-tech engineers, but on the other hand I can think of more worthwhile ways of spending the same sort of money on the same general sort of technology, since really it's designed to do something of no practical purpose. Going that fast while sticking to the artificial constraint of staying on the ground is just making things difficult for yourself for no good reason really.

The UK once had a small space programme until it was cancelled by the government of the day... I think to this day we're the only nation which has developed a capability to launch a satellite and then voluntarily given it up.

It’s exactly this sort of weird venture that yields the best results.... the initial aim might not be achieved but several tech developments drop out of it.

bloodhound has had several key technologies developed and enhanced to meet its needs. These include :

1. Extremely controllable rockets. These are throttable, safe and green hybrid rockets which is a world first (especially the safe and green part). These will have massive implications for the space and military.

2. The wheels rotate at 10000+rpm so the risk of fatigue, creep and expansion were extremely high. The alloy and machining techniques used to create wheels to survive these forces are cutting edge and world leading....they will be used again certainly.

3.laser melting addictive construction was used and perfected to make the nose cone out of titanium powder in an intricate shape. This tech is the future of exotic material manufacturing. 3d printing with titanium alloys!!! 

Anyway, silly projects like this are vital
for progress. DARPA put tenders out all the time for projects, these have included a submarine that can fly..... the tech that dropped out of the failed project was astounding.