In a little less than a year, the Bloodhound team is set to arrive in South Africa in an attempt to break the world land speed record.<\/p>\n
Bloodhound SSC is a British supersonic land vehicle currently in development. Its goal is to match or exceed 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km\/h) achieving a new world land speed record.<\/p>\n
This track has been prepared over the past seven years by the local community in the Northern Cape.<\/p>\n
\u201cBloodhound brings life to an area that was lifeless before,\u201d said Justice Bekebeke, Director General in the Premier\u2019s office of the Northern Cape Provincial Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the province, and actually in the country, and the Bloodhound project has brought a lot of economic opportunities to the people in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bloodhound project announced early in October that it would be coming out for its 800mph (1,287km\/h) record attempt in September\/October next year.<\/p>\n
At the event on Hakskeenpan, the Bloodhound team and the FIA honoured the people from the Mier community for their efford and dedication in clearing the 20km-long track on which the Bloodhound will be running.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have turned a national treasure into an international treasure,\u201d said Dennis Dean, president of the Land Speed Records Commission at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) that controls motorsport internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough BLOODHOUND will be the first record attempt here, I am certain that it will not be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bloodhound team, including the car, which is designed to reach speeds of over 1000mph (1,609km\/h), is expected to be flown into the Upington International Airport late in September, before it will be transported by road to Hakskeenpan, close to the borders of Namibia and Botswana, in the Northern Cape.<\/p>\n
It will start its test runs early in October with the record attempt expected to take place early in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record attempts are expected to attract over 18,000 people to the area throughout the record attempts, which will be broadcast live, and covered by over 200 international journalists,\u201d said Richard Knight, director of communications for Bloodhound.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen immense interest in the project, and benefits to the community are only expected to increase as the record runs get closer.\u201d<\/p>\n