How To Hit 1,609km/h: Andy Green Talks To autoX

Karl sits down with the fastest man on the planet – Andy Green

The fastest man in the world is not Usain Bolt. Sure, he’s fast. Okay, extremely fast. But even Bolt seems slow in comparison to RAF Wing Commander Andy Green.

Green is the only person to have ever broken the sound barrier… in a car. Think about that for a second – laying down in a tiny seat, a roaring rocket engine behind you, inches off the ground, and you’re barrelling along a salt flat at 1,227km/h.

I sat down for a chat with the affable Brit about his newest challenge. Because, of course, once you’ve done 1,227km/h, the only way is up.

Andy Green plans to crack the 1,000mph barrier. Yes, that’s right – he will drive a car at one thousand six hundred and nine kilometres per hour. To put that into perspective, at its top speed, Green’s car – the Bloodhound SSC – will be covering 447 metres every second.

“In that moment, the blood will be draining from my legs and being forced into my head. It will be uncomfortable. But I just have to block that out of my mind,” Green says, matter-of-factly. “My training to get used to that is aerobatics. I regularly pull between four and five Gs, which is what I’ll be subjected to during the run.” Clearly no need for sick-bags, then. But the biggest challenge isn’t the human body.

“We needed to find a lift-neutral shape that would work across the board, from low speed up to Mach 1.35 (1,000mph). We expected that modelling to take three years – it took five,” explains Green. “The next challenge was to find other exotic bits of technology – wheels that will spin at 10,300rpm.”

At speed, centrifugal force will be working on the outside of the wheels, and Green says it exerts 50,000 times the force of gravity. Safety is, therefore, paramount.
“We’ve had our own custom aluminium smelted, five tonnes of it,” said Green. “We’re making 18 sets of wheels, two of which will be cut up for quality control, two sets of wheels ready to go, and two sets which will be blanks in case we need to change the wheels somehow. The rest of the chassis and suspension, that’s just really good, high quality engineering.”

The engines? A Rolls-Royce jet powers it initially, with a rocket taking over afterwards. The rocket’s appetite for fuel is insatiable – meaning a regular fuel pump was out of the question. The solution? Turn a Cosworth Formula 1 engine into the world’s most expensive fuel pump, supplying some 40 litres of fuel every second.

But here’s what’s really interesting. Green was hand-picked by Bentley to become one of the “Mulsanne Visionaries,” a select group of influential figures who are helping to shape the world’s future. And his view of the future is quite far-sighted. The whole point of the exercise is not to create technologies that will filter down to the everyday vehicle. It’s to get young people excited by the Bloodhound SSC project, and hopefully create the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“This is a science and technology experiment that kids all over the world can join in with,” says Green. “We have a YouTube channel that has had millions of views, and this is two years before we run the car. When we do run the car, we’re going to be broadcasting live video so that everyone can take part.”

“Our legacy is not a car that can do 1,000mph. It’s a whole bunch of young people who will engage with solving climate science problems, who get into civil engineering to build the next generation of bridges, or rail transport, or power distribution infrastructure, or even to help to solve the food and water problems of the world, which are becoming more acute every day.”

“What’s going to make them passionate about engineering and technology right now, when they’re 12-years-old at school? It’s being able to watch someone build a 1,000mph car.”

I think there may be one or two adults who’ll be interested, too, Andy.