World's Fastest Car Will Reach 1,000 Miles Per Hour
A British project to build the world’s fastest car is underway . The Bloodhound car will be constructed to reach speeds that nobody has ever dreamed of. The project has the aim of teaching young people science and mathematics. Richard Noble, project director, was already head of the 1997 project that set up the current world record .
The construction of the car will begin in 2011. A year later the supersonic car will attempt to achieve a new world speed record on a dry lake in South Africa. If it succeeds , the Bloodhound car will reach a speed of over 1,000 miles an hour, considerably more than the current speed record of 763 miles per hour.
The Bloodhound car is designed to run by mixture of jet and rocket engine technology. It will have the same power as 180 Formula One cars. A jet engine will take the car up to a speed of 300 mph then a rocket engine will be fired to do the rest. The car will accelerate from 0 to 1,000 miles per hour in 40 seconds. The driver will have to cope with a force of 3 g, something that can only be practiced in airplane simulators.
The real car will be pencil-shaped, have a length of 12 feet meters (about 42 feet) a weight of about 6 tons. Major companies are working on the project, including Cosworth, Goodridge, Siemens and others.
Over 4,000 primary and secondary schools in Great Britain are talking part in an educational program that is a part of the project. It should inspire school children to study more science and math.
Richard Noble has asked volunteers to help in the project. Currently a track is being prepared by 300 people in the Northern Cape Province in South Africa. It must be flat and without any obstacles . Otherwise the car may be damaged by a rock or something else that might hit it.
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Words
- accelerate = go faster and faster
- aim = goal
- attempt = try
- considerably = very much, greatly
- construct = build
- cope with = manage, handle
- current = existing, right now
- design = make
- engine = motor
- fire = here: to start up an engine or motor
- force = power , strength
- including = also, together with
- length = how long something is
- major = very important
- mixture = combination
- obstacle = something that may be in the way or block the way
- otherwise = or else
- practice = perform, carry out
- primary school = school for children between the ages of 5 and 11
- reach = get to
- science = knowledge about the world and nature
- secondary school = school for children between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18
- speed = how fast something is
- succeed = do well, work the way it should
- supersonic = faster than the speed of sound
- track = path, road
- underway = in progress , has started
- volunteer = a person who helps without getting paid
- weight = how heavy something is
- world record = the fastest time that anyone has ever reached