The world’s fastest car will be heading to South Africa in October 2017 for its first high-speed run, which means that it is all systems go for the Bloodhound SSC project team at Poynting Antennas. The South African company designed, tested and built the tailfin antenna that will live stream both the 2017 attempt and the ultimate record breaking attempt sometime in 2018.
“Our antenna has been tested and approved by the team from Bloodhound SSC and it is fitted to the current vehicle. Now begins a process of careful disassembly, documenting and re-fitment of all components on the vehicle before any dynamic tests can begin,” says Michael Howard, CEO of Poynting Antennas.
The custom-designed, cross polarised and water cooled antenna nestles in a small compartment on the tailfin of the vehicle. It has been tested on Hakskeenpan (in the Northern Cape) using a supercharged Jaguar XKR and an L39 fighter jet trainer, but it has not had an opportunity to be tested on the vehicle.
“Our first in-car test will come in June 2017, when the Bloodhound SSC team tests the car in the town of Newquay, Cornwall in England. Here the car will be tested at a relatively slow 354 km/h to evaluate all components and test the data stream of in-car telematics and live-streaming video from our antenna,” explains Dr Andre Fourie, founder and executive chairman of Poynting Antennas.
After the UK-based tests the car, crew and equipment will be shipped to Hakskeenpan for a dry run in October 2017. During this run, the car will drive at 800 mph or 1287,48 km/h, breaking the current world record of 763,035 mph and setting the scene for a final run of 1000 mph somewhere in 2018.
“It will be exactly 20 years since Andy Green broke the world land speed record in the Thrust supersonic car in October 1997 and so much has changed, says Howard. This time, thanks to the Poynting antenna, we will be able to live stream the 800 mph and 1000 mph record runs from inside the cabin to anywhere in the world,” says Howard.
For more information contact Michael Howard, Poynting Antennas, +27 (0)12 657 0050, www.poynting.tech
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