Bulletproof car hopes to blast through records and sound barrier at 1,000mph

British project will be powered by jets and rockets as it speeds through the desert faster than a bullet

Andrew Griffin
Friday 13 March 2015 15:16 GMT
Comments
The car is displayed at Downing Street, when the team visited David Cameron to demonstrate the new project
The car is displayed at Downing Street, when the team visited David Cameron to demonstrate the new project (Andrew Griffin)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A British car hopes to break the landspeed record by shooting through the desert at over 1,000mph — and it’s body has to be made bulletproof to withstand the huge impacts it will undergo as it races along.

To ensure that it can withstand such hits, the team behind the project have fired projectiles at the panels on the car. By ensuring that the panels are essentially bullet-proof, they can make sure that they are pebble-proof, too — and at such speeds, they are much the same thing.

The panels will protect the car’s driver, Andy Green, as he drives the car through the desert where the car will be tested.

The team behind the car hope that it will be able to beat the 763mph record, which was set by Thrust SSC in 1997. When it did so, it became the first car to break the sound barrier.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in