Bengaluru: Can you hear the sonic boom as you pilot a vehicle to set a new record for land speed at 1,650 km per hour?
This question by a high school student of Stonehill Government Higher Primary School stumped Wing Commander Andy Green, OBE, who plans to break his 19 year-long record of 1,228 km per hour, in South Africa next year.
“I can’t hear the sonic boom though I will be creating one, but this was definitely a rare question,” he told Deccan Chronicle after an interaction with these students with British Prime Minister Theresa May looking on during her visit to the school.
It did not end with this, another student quizzed him on how he plans to ferry a large team to support Bloodhound SSC’s (A British supersonic land vehicle under development to set a new record) to a desert in South Africa. Next year, he plans to drive at 1,300 km an hour.
The 13.5-metre long, Rolls-Royce aero engine powered dart will be air-freighted on a Boeing 747 to Upington in South Africa, then transported to Kakskeen Pan by road, next year.
Green said “I am hugely privileged to talk to them (students) as a lot of Indian technology is involved in the car, including three-D steering. We will be sowing the seeds for development of next generation technologies. We created Bloodhound to expose children to advanced technology from across the world. We have been working on the car for eight years, and spent $ 50-60 million so far.”
