Bloodhound racer stored in Coventry Museum as funding hunt starts
- Published
The bloodhound land speed racer has been stored in a museum while the search to find a further £8m investment begins.
Fundraising is for a motor to break the world record of 763mph (1,228km/h).
The Bristol car's owner, Ian Warhurst, has handed the project over to the group's head of engineering Stuart Edmondson, who said he was "confident" it would leave the museum one day.
Coventry Museum said it was "thrilled" to support the project's ambitions.
After previous testing, the team behind the build said the vehicle was capable of exceeding 800mph.
But the goal cannot be reached without further investment.
Mr Edmondson added: "I'm confident it will leave the museum and it's all linked to Covid because no corporate or personal investor would consider investing money in Bloodhound while we have Covid overhanging the whole planet at the moment.
"As we emerge from the pandemic, I'm confident we can find an equally passionate partner to complete the final step in our journey to achieving a new world record.
"Installation of an innovative environmentally friendly rocket motor will add to the engineering excitement of this project."
The arrow-shaped racer reached a top speed of 628mph (1,010km/h) on the lakebed of Hakskeen Pan, South Africa, in late 2019.
Only seven cars have previously travelled faster than 600mph.
'Future ambitions'
All the data acquired over several weeks of running indicated that Bloodhound would be capable of achieving 800mph if it was fitted with a rocket to supplement the power coming from its Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine.
In January Mr Warhurst said he had gone as far as he could with the project and could not put any more money into it to fund the fitting of the new part.
The car has been moved from its HQ in Gloucestershire to Coventry Museum in a bid to inspire others and to allow it to be safely stored as the project is put on hold.
Coventry Transport Museum's culture and creative director, Francis Nielsen said: "We are so excited to exhibit an item of such importance in Coventry as we enter our year as UK City of Culture.
"We are thrilled to support the team's future ambitions".