In 2013 and 2014 Andy Green will attempt to break the Land Speed Record in the Bloodhound SSC, which is capable of reaching 1,000mph according to the designers.

Green, an RAF fighter pilot, will go from 0mph to 1,000mph and back to zero again in 120 seconds – propelled by both jet and rocket engines. Green, 48-years-old, says, “I won’t be worried about crashing, more the fact I have to control the power and the speed, plus we’ll have a live camera streaming the whole time for people to watch."

Green is the current holder of the Land Speed Record and the first person to break the sound barrier.

To train to drive a 1,000mph machine seems an almost impossible task, but Green is an experience driver and regularly participates in testing sessions in a Radical at Silverstone. “Getting used to the different grip levels, feeling a car sliding, steering into a little bit, adjust the throttle slight, I can practice all that at 200mph on a track beforehand.”

The attempt will take place on a desert in Northern Cape, South African - the vast solid surface providing endless miles of track, the only suitable place on earth for a vehicle of this magnitude. Bloodhound Project hope volunteers will flock to the desert to clear stones and debris off the 250 million square foot surface.

The current Land Speed Record is 763mph by Thrust SSC, it is hoped the Bloodhound will smash this record by adding just under 250mph to an already astonishing speed.

Here are the three previous Land Speed Records.

ThrustSSC October 15, 1997 - 763mph

Thrust 2, October 4, 1983 - 633mph

 

Blue Flame, October 28, 1970 - 622mph