Rolex Joins Bloodhound Project as Official Timing Partner

[bkandj2000]

Rolex plans to hit a record-breaking 1,000 mph with the Bloodhound Project

May 30, 2011 - Rolex have announced their position of official timing sponsor of the Bloodhound land speed project. For those not familiar with the Bloodhound project, it’s a new hybrid rocket car that will attempt to beat the current land speed record with a speed of 1,000mph. The current record was set in 1997 by Andy Green and his team of scientists and engineers in Britain. He piloted the Trust SSC and reached 763mph, being the first to break the sound barrier on land. In 2013, Andy Green and the same team will go for the new record in the Bloodhound SSC, this time with a complimentary Rolex strapped to Alex’s wrist, for the entire 3.6 seconds estimated to run a mile.


The new Bloodhound SSC will use a trifecta of propulsion to hit the new record. First a Eurojet Ej200 after-burning turbo fan that will take the Blooodbound SSC to 300mph. It then fires up a custom hybrid rocket to take it all the way up to 1,000mph. And they also threw in a F1 V8 engine, just to pump oxygen into the rocket, and for a little extra oomph. Andy Green will be experiencing between 2.5 to 3g of force for this attempt, so to train for it, he just flies stunt aircraft upside-down over the British country side, NBD.

An interesting note is the exclusive rocket was designed by one of the world’s leading rocket scientists (yes, it’s a real job, not just an expression) who’s only 26 years old. Daniel “Rocket Dan” Jubb has been building rockets since the tender age of five, starting with McDonald straws, a light bulb and household ingredients. At eleven, he had co-founded the Falcon Project to design and develop rockets for commercial and military application. By the time he was fourteen, he was receiving corporate financing and was flying test rockets. An all-round classy genius, he’s also earned recognition from The Chap,( a men’s magazine dedicated to the British traditions of tweed, pipe smoking, finely-pressed trousers, etc.) for his prominent moustache (pictured here).

This makes a unique choice for Rolex, taking the typical ol’ F1 or yachting timing watch sponsorship to a more extreme level. This level isn’t new for Rolex though, with a notable history of extreme record-breaking. A Rolex Sea Dweller was strapped to Jacques Piccard when he swam out of his submarine on his Mariana trench dive in 1960, setting the depth record of 35,814 ft. A few Rolex Oysters accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary’s expedition to the top of Mount Everest in 1953, setting a record elevation reached at 29,028 ft. Now Rolex plans to blast past the world land speed record in 2013, so stay tuned for that. Until then, check out the CG simulation of the Bloodhound SSC beating a Eurofighter Typhoon, pretty cool, the CG scorpion didn’t seem too impressed though…

http://blog.luxurybazaar.com/rolex-p...hound-project/