Kerbal Bloodhound Car - Jets + Rockets = 1000mph

The recent update to Kerbal Space Program made me look at wheels... and realise they're no longer breaking or exploding at high speeds.
So, perfect time to explore jet and rocket powered cars, starting with a clone of the Bloodhound, a car powered by a jet engine and a rocket which hopes to exceed 1000mph.
Not saying that this is a KSP speed record, I will have to try some actual kerbal speed records next.

[@pandaderp5742]

*Flipping uncontrollably in the air* "I'm Scott Manley, fly safe"

[@poseidon4675]

PandaDerp space air!

[@CarloRizzante]

Add multiplayer to KSP and all suddenly you might have an F1 racing league with home made cars.

[@CulturalCats]

There was a multiplayer mod available that *mostly* worked a couple of versions back in case you're interested in that.

[@The007dinosaur]

yup, look up DMP. it kinda works but is glitchy af

[@robotica34]

Me and my friend accidentally managed to get it so stable, that aircraft and spacecraft no longer twitch left to right. It's so fluent you could call it official multiplayer.

[@The007dinosaur]

whoa, what is this black magic?

[@robotica34]

James Ward Don't know, we thought the mod was broken because it ran so well, but, of course, we were only joking.

[@abdumalikmustapha4689]

*hweels* I find that intriguing.

[@tisimo123]

cool whip

[@PseudoReality28]

Hweat thins

[@awesomo9262]

mor like hougheels

[@mattpelzek3809]

Feernt hweel

[@adamkurowski1934]

3:48

[@josephanthony4868]

I think the next Kerbal series should be career mode but with 3x gravity

[@jaredsalisbury9150]

i like that idea

[@benjaminroeder3046]

Kerbal Space Program, but with engine failures. TO THE MOD PAGES!

[@Cuttl.e]

Joseph Anthony ooooh that'd be cool! :D pls Scott do this

[@aleksandartomic923]

press alt+f12 and chose cheats and there you can configure gravity from 0.1 to 10

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

I would much prefer something more realistic. Like one tenth of the funding, so reusability becomes the key :D

[@CronicX007]

Just so no one else has to google it. 669 m/s = 1497 mph

[@scottmanley]

In reality I have more rocket fuel than the bloodhound

[@DylanWoodadventurefocus]

In reality, you have taught me more about physics than my first year at university, where I took physics. Well done! Always love your videos! :)

[@no3ironman11100]

I just rounded it to 666m/s to me. Haha.

[@BloodyRainRang]

+Dylan Wood shows that you go to school for the paper and to KZbin for the actual knowledge xP

[@DylanWoodadventurefocus]

+BloodyRain2k totally man, get my actual education from KZbin! :P

[@volrath__]

fun fact, my faculty at uni helped design parts of Bloodhound SSC :)

[@muchozolf]

You see... if you where Scott Manley everyone would be very excited. I fell sorry for you. Good to see someone that (i dont know the fitting word even in my native language, sorry).

[@marcospiazza2961]

Wich language?

[@JossWhittle]

Swansea, represent! :D

[@muchozolf]

Marcos Piazza Polish. You know that language from that country just next to Moscow as American people use to think.

[@stijn2472]

Isn't it that country east to germany?

[@harryflashman8996]

Great little video. We studied the Bloodhound car in a programming module at uni actually; working out the optimal time to engage the rocket/parachute to achieve the goal of 1000mph for one mile without putting the driver under so much acceleration that he would pass out and die.

[@ChefofWar33]

The max g load before you die is 100. I doubt the bloodhound will get past 5 g's.

[@harryflashman8996]

Bryce Peters Withered Bonnie well, I studied engineering at uni - not medicine - so I don't really know the effects of high gees on the human body and you may indeed be right. The supervisor more or less said "don't exceed this number", and that's what we tried to do. Though from the Bloodhound website it seems that their situation is a bit unusual. I'd give this a read if you're interested: www.bloodhoundssc.com/project/adventure/physiological-effects

[@ChefofWar33]

I think your supervisor didn't want to exceed a certain amount of gs because like scott said, it is quite a lot of strain on the wheels, as well as all other mechanical parts. In the end though, you may be right. A certain amount of gs could make the pilot die, but not directly from g load itself.

[@harryflashman8996]

Bryce Peters well, the piece on their website states that going from a position of very high acceleration to very high deceleration (when the parachute is deployed) has its own unique challenges (with blood flow etc.) which may cause a 'greyout'. Like I said, check out the link for the details.

[@ChefofWar33]

Harry Flashman Makes sense, you probably would experience way more g's on decel than accel.

[@maxk4324]

Really cool video as always! However one small issue I found, the bloodhound plans to use liquid hydrogen peroxide as its oxidizer in its hybrid rocket engine. It's not using it as monopropellant.

[@MrBubbleJet]

Let me correct you, sir: "I'm Scott Manley, drive save!"

[@isaacvincent8443]

I believe you have to be touching the ground for it to be 'driving'. 😉

[@animationspace8550]

No, I am pretty sure he is indicating you to gimbal the car thrusters just a bit more upwards judging that he is Scott Manley

[@you238]

I think the Bloodhound is using a hybrid motor, not monopropellant. Solid bit is HTPB.

[@scottmanley]

Yeah I got that wrong, I knew they had HTP though.

[@NonCommentaryGamer]

when hwheels were originally introduced XD

[@AddisonMorse]

Anyone else notice that it topped at basically 666 m/s?

[@MrChrisHynd]

*scary music plays*

[@mdesa6699]

It's the Kraken

[@shibaplays]

thats why its called the bloodhound amirite

[@thehogfather5872]

M de Sa dont you mean leviathan?

[@mateoslab]

terminal velocity

[@SuperAWaC]

great video as always, scott. although i believe that the bloodhound rocket engine is a htp hybrid engine that uses the exhaust to light a rubber solid fuel, like a rocket afterburner?

[@allenholloway5109]

I just realized that it is possible to DRIVE back to Kerbin using the technique you just used.

[@John_Conner_]

Only started playing when it came to console, failed many things ( this included ) nice to watch n learn from a pro, ty Mr Manley

[@Tomohran]

As soon as I saw the thumbnail I knew that was a Bloodhound SSC. I remember first seeing the Bloodhound in the Guinness Book of records a few years ago. Nice Job!

[@TheHandsomeMatt]

I had a chance to spend some time with Buckeye Current and some of the other LSR vehicles at Bonneville a few years ago. They were all on the ragged, bleeding edge of engineering it was amazing to watch the teams work and talk with them about what it takes to reach those speeds.

[@jackmcslay]

Now there's an interesting challenge - trying to escape minmus with a car and only allowed to use cheats to get to minmus and not manipulate the gravity

[@thesiili6248]

Jack Mcslay or launch a car to a different planet from minmus.

[@candidcomments292]

Jack Mcslay too easy use rockects to push down gain speed then turn them off and ramp that hill.

[@HammaneggsAirborne]

I have seen someone do that with ion engines.

[@athena9705]

*_hweels_*

[@NapoleonDynamiteer]

trying to scape is easy... going back to K is different...

[@DowzerWTP72]

Scott, i recently tried this exact project, as i was studying it at University. I found that if you adjust the traction from auto to manual, you could completely stop that oscillation in the fuselage. Maybe you stumble upon this later into the video, but so far you are still being plagued with the wobbling!!

[@bigwizardenergy]

I'm so glad this update changed wheel mechanics. Ive been trying to perfect my rocket cars, and lander/rovers for a long time, but the wheels always end up breaking. Thanks for the video, I didn't know about the changes.

[@Joefisx20s]

Looks like the car from simpsons hit and run

[@rich1051414]

I hope one day that kerbal space program adds the ability to set up remote launch platforms, runways and assembly bays. That would add so much to this game.

[@thebeefybully3935]

Great vid Scottie. I could not keep mine stable above 400 m/s but then again I can not pilot any craft in KSP particularly well

[@nara6540]

Okay, I tried to undesrstand your channel. I have no conclusion. But I like the Science-Game Combo. Keep up the good work Scott!

[@intothevoid5074]

The car went at nearly 2412km/h (670m/s or 1498.75mph), making it well over twice as fast as the real Bloodhound LSR.

[@quintinkrivacek9800]

2019, Bugatti just broke the 300mph barrier in their Chiron SS. While they gave the car a slight HP bump over the standard Chiron, the most crucial development was the tires due to the friction that builds up at those speeds. The Bloodhound on the other hand has to worry about friction AND about 50k g's of centrifugal force, so the wheels are a forged aluminum zinc alloy. I guess the kerbal wheels are actually pretty forgiving!

[@asjenmensink2740]

i found that with the biggest wheels you can get to about 90 m/s by steering from side to side as fast as you can while still going forward( that is when only using the motor in the wheels and no other engines).

[@maddyaurora]

5 years later and driving on grass still feels like driving on ice wheels in ksp are a disaster

[@zegamingcuber857]

"When hweels were first introduced" -Scott Manley 2016

[@laihela]

Scott! You can fix the wobbliness by adding a bit of camber on the rear wheels (can't remember if it was positive or negative).

[@adamsubtract81]

The wheels on the bloodhound will be spinning over 10,000 rpm at 1000mph!

[@XDKvlogs]

I'm totally making one of these but I had an idea while watching the video, I'll be adding wings or possibly a large spoiler to my rocket car but having them tilted far down so that the air current sweeps over them, negating lift and also widening the area of the vehicle so that it doesn't topple over or wiggle around as easily, hopefully it works well

[@TheBeastOfSushquat]

They aren't using the parachutes, after Thrust SSC had a double failure. The two parachutes on Bloodhound are just there in the event of an air-brake failure. There are only wheel brakes on one end too due to stability reasons

[@glennthunderer1685]

wow! awesome idea Scott! thanks for the idea! now i won't be bored anymore!

[@kainhall]

that rocking left and right is what REAL Bonneville salt flat cars do... as the rear wiggles out, the air will push on that side, making it straight again.

[@tomstech4390]

you must watch the hris harris video on it. the coolest things about it is that the v8 engine (which is just a fuel pump.. aswell as having its own fuel pump) has to have the intake air intercooled BEFORE it goes into the supercharger....after which it gets intercooled again obviously. the engineering into the smallest things is just immense. also the wheels just spinning in free air (not supporting 12 tons of car) when soinning at 10000rpm or 100mph raise from room temperature to something like 100*c just from the air friction.

[@misium]

Would be nice if you listed the mods you using in the video description. This is useful to those of us who would like to know how to get similar experience (including audio-visuals).

[@caryweaver2871]

Incase anybody is wondering the Bloodhound actually uses a hybrid rocket with hydrogen peroxide as it's oxidizer (which is first fed through a catalyst mesh to turn it into super heated steam and oxygen) and HTPB (basically rubber) as it's fuel grain.

[@49havannah]

can you do more cockpit view? would look cool af when going a 1000 mph imo!

[@TheSmallChap]

Yay Bloodhound. Just 3 days past the 19 year Thrust SSC record anniversary. The team are all lovely, dad was on the Thrust team

[@samuelhopely4853]

I need more stuff like this. LSR stuff is the coolest to me!

[@GeneralJackRipper]

Here I was wondering what the wheel friction setting was. Now, I know. Thanks Scott.

[@apollo6139]

Nothing better than a KSP Scott Manley upload.

[@a.g.m8790]

I would have enjoyed watching that car spin for a while longer... it's oddly satisfying lol

[@Michael_Michaels]

It would be nice to see some references along the way, so that we can see how fast it actually goes. The speedometer isn't enough and the clouds are to high.

[@willrandship]

I think with this design you might have better luck using the prograde SAS setting instead of stability assist, as well as disabling the gimbal on the engines.

[@MrJimmyjammmy]

Hey Scott. I thought the rocket was a hybrid rocket that used a solid fuel and HTP as the oxidiser? Wouldn't a solid rocket booster have been a closer match?

[@weatheranddarkness]

might try extending the fin. the latest iteration of the Bloodhound has a much larger vertical stabilizer than initially.

[@danilooliveira6580]

I'm all in for high speeds heating up wheels and temperature breaking them and the addition of superrsonic wheels that withstands higher temperatures. also I'm curious about the dangers of engine burnout for a car like that. I imagine that the slightest loss of power may force the entire thing to flip

[@scottmanley]

Well you saw at the end when I ran out of fuel that the thing just slowed down very quickly.

[@danilooliveira6580]

Scott Manley yeah but I mean in case of uneven loss of power, if a engine stops before another engine, how much torque it will generate ? I hope not very much

[@flyfaen1]

Well, at 1000 mph they should see aprox 1.77 Bars (2.77 Bars absolute) of ram pressure in the intake of the gas turbine engine, and it beeing on top, if you effectively clog that (like a shut down engine) the area of the intake eyeballed to about 0.3 m² would result in a eyeballed force of roughly 5300 kg applied at that area, so if anyone knows the CG of the car and some other measures the nose up torque can be calculated... I'm prettey shure the Bloodhound guys have had this in mind tho to prevent a nose up condition, since the FADEC unit of the gas turbine engine might shut it down if abnormal operation occurs, which is not unlikely as the engine they are using (EJ200 of a EF Typhoon) was never designed or ment to operate at 2.77 Bars absolute, with the higher inlet temps that would give in the much more dense and already higher ambient conditions of ground level.

[@mateoslab]

it looked like you were reaching terminal velocity at 665 m/s

[@demiRaziel]

sometimes i wish there's a mod for KSP that rings a sonic boom whenever you hit mach 1. It doesn't have to be really realistic/scientific, just for the sake of satisfaction that you've broke the sound barrier

[@ch3ckm4te480]

new to this channel i love all of the ksp simulations but details do matter when engineering im sure you would agree the actual bloodhound vehicle does not have one single wheel in the front it has 2 it provides way more stability i could go on. just my opinion

[@charlieodom9107]

Legend says that poor Kerbin is still spinning violently to this day!

[@firestorm165]

Charlie Odom nah, that kerbal turned to jelly in the first 2 seconds

[@sidewalkere]

I have to nitpick at 7:10 , sorry Scott! The rocket engine in the Bloodhound is hybrid, not monopropellant, running solid HTPB as fuel and high-test peroxide as oxidizer. :)

[@averagegeek3957]

They changed it to hybrid from monopropellant. When Scott uploaded this video they intended to use monopropellant, but later they decided to switch to hybrid because the development of their monopropellant engine took too long.

[@BloodyRainRang]

An small idea for the next stream if you don't have a backlog of them for that: a vanilla Spaceplane which can return from Eve? Payload for getting there can be a mining module to refuel it because it'd already take more than enough fuel just to get the thing there xD Maybe also some fueltanks which can be left in orbit for landing. As far as vanilla goes: just mainly vanilla, so no overkill parts like from Interstellar but Mechjeb and procedural wings would be ok. Or rather, make the challenge to use as few mod parts as possible, that's probably more reasonable.

[@PowerChopper]

Legends says he's still rolling in outerspace...

[@AeroQC]

Hey Scott! Can you try launching a rover from Minmus to Eve using the hack gravity method that you showcased at the end? You managed to get escape velocity, but can you fine-tune it and manage to land on (or at least hit) Eve or any other planet?

[@MrHSX]

Legend has it that it's still rolling to this day...

[@CellaDorrn]

the wiggle is most of the times from controll surfaces.. the weels get a imbalance in friction then start to roll and your controll surface is to slow in the reaction so it overcompensates on each wiggle.. so that it cant cool down.. just reduce the authorithy of the controll surface to around 30% and it should be fine

[@scottmanley]

The wiggle happens even if there's no control surfaces.

[@CellaDorrn]

.because i don't have the bleacher engine i used a booster and.... you are right XD first run and one of the back weels got riped off at about 250 m/s when i started the afterburner... no wiggle at all.. i turned off steering of the weels same issue then i reduced the friction and got wiggle.. then i reduces the control surface and it got a bit better but not really noticeable.. then got rid od the friction control and had a liftoff at 521.1 m/s well i never drove that fast in kerbal till now.. so thanks for the new experience. but still.. my aircraft's and rocket launch wiggle are most of the time the flaps.. or i forgot the struts hmm i think tomorrow i test how far i can get with a bit of downforce and i guess a mod for that engine thx for the reply and for all the good vids

[@WAFFLEM4N]

scott. i wanted to know if it is possible to make an Expandable Hexagon station. like a Space station that grows and expands with newer sections like living quarters, Science sections, etc. like a Honeycomb Grid or something that just becomes one large Hexagon as it grows.

[@00bean00]

Have you tried disabling the engine gimbal? (Or perhaps even the SAS.) I have wobbling problems in space because of the gimbal tie to SAS. Sorry to hear you perhaps recovering from being sick.

[@wiryantirta]

2:24 Scott, wasn't the fuel pump system V8 engine taken from Cosworth? As in the entry-level engine that was supplied to F1 teams. And it was 750bhp as well.

[@badnicc]

Awesome video, Scott!

[@fileheist]

there are some scott manley references in the ksp loading screen i noticed like "flying safe" and "liking ike" in 1.2

[@smokeydops]

Hmm.. strong wheels... Rocket car launches on moons? Definitely makes it easier to land.

[@pigeonbee8570]

It's pretty neat you broke the land speed record, would you be able to beat the water speed record, too?

[@WheatleyOS]

I think we're all hoping squad keeps wheels this way. I mean, wheel damage can still be caused by impact speed anyways.

[@anumeon]

All the crashes makes me remember Richard Hammonds jetcar crash from Top Gear..

[@isaacvincent8443]

I think the Devs need to put in some animation options of Kerbals throwing up. No way you don't lose your lunch spinning at those speeds.

[@danross1489]

So, has anyone figured out a way to build a surface to Munar / Minar orbit railgun yet? Passive projectile, active rail. You would have to stay focused on the payload though, of course. The interesting part, is timing a firing so that a collector station passes through an intercept with said payload.

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

"British Jet Car at 1000 mph" Gonna run out of Britain real quick! Wouldn't the Shock Wave cause Problems?

[@M1PAC]

Only Jeb could do that , He's THE Kerbal .

[@rapolast]

Lol'd at that Kerbal smiling like crazy all the time

[@Monkeyb00y]

The rocket car went Mach 1.95, nearly MACH 2

[@Suedocode]

Next goals: achieving orbital speeds while still on the surface of various planets and moons. Minmus: Easy Mun: Medium Tylo: Hard Kerbin: Very Hard Eve: Insane I'm sure cheats will be necessary for the bigger ones, and the ones with atmosphere...

[@gaminggary7162]

10:58 Team Rocket is blasting off again!

[@witchofengineering]

Interstellar quest 2! Please.

[@jaredsalisbury9150]

yes this pleaze

[@ursosentado]

pleeeease uncle scott!

[@Hyo9000]

Wiktor Guzowski +

[@KurdistanLazo]

I’m starting to think your the creator of kerbel space program or an actual astronaut.... *hold up*

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

interstellar ☆ "Justwaitamoment"

[@DNX3M]

Note that when you applying brake to the BloodHood car, you void the guaranty.

[@Nugget11578]

the real car is using a hybrid which i guess can technically be called monoprop but not really the h2o2 is an oxidizer

[@DOHARKsmash]

man...I really need to get videos of the stuff I build. I hope you don't mind me skimming a few ideas for craft builds.

[@Sizuykeks]

Mach 2, impressive. Seemed like it was some barrier, speed was jumping between 665 and 670, not going over.

[@ericliu7432]

8:14 Illuminati CONFIRMED for 2 milliseconds-ish.

[@engineer_cat]

Bloodhound isn't using a monoprop rocket engine - the hydrogen peroxide is the liquid oxidiser for a hybrid (solid fuel / liquid oxidiser) engine.

[@averagegeek3957]

They originally intended to use a monoprop engine. They changed it after Scott uploaded his video.

[@andreasvogler1875]

Valentina really seems to like it :-)

[@jackgribbin5247]

Today I found out that they are using the same brakes on the bloodhound as what anybody who owns a bike will have and also that they are planning on not using a parachute

[@WhyName]

Should try pulling up that car. See if the gimbal was enough for takeoff.

[@michaelcarleno7751]

Just a suggestion, increase the rear axel length to increase your stance to get better vehicle stability.? Like where your going with this...

[@scottmanley]

Actually the wider the wheelbase at the rear the bigger the oscillations.

[@michaelcarleno7751]

Arjen_hoi , funny guy.. not..

[@michaelcarleno7751]

Arjen_hoi , not offended just don't understand your humor..

[@annfranksus1531]

it is a good day when u drive a car into orbit

[@lothricknighthelm8653]

i honestly thought you would crash into the ocean because of the darkness at the horizon

[@kalebmead1013]

One of my lecturers in Swansea Uni is working on the aerodynamics of the Bloodhound! So interesting to see how much of a challenge it really is :)

[@jpnrndr7983]

He went back to the future

[@horaciosalles]

greatest kerbal video ending ever :D

[@sebbes333]

10:44 You should try to balance the planets gravity to make a stable orbit for the car ;P And maybe even save it by de-accelerating.

[@yodu45]

at what speed a terrestrial vehicle need to be to reach escape velocity on earth??? assuming it runs on the flattest ground ( like a steel plate/runway, a very long one)

[@arsailor89]

According to google, escape velocity on earth (at sea level) is about 11.2km/s (11,200 m/s), or Mach 33. So nearly 25x faster than what the Bloodhound will achieve xD

[@yodu45]

Drewgamer thanks, now i need to upgrade my car.

[@Yonkage]

I doubt there is any material made by man that could withstand the kind of frictional heating a craft would encounter going that speed at sea level.

[@yodu45]

Yonkage Yet!!

[@sfsaviation]

yodu45 chill bro we have our limits

[@satiric_]

If my math is correct, those rear wheels were travelling at 18000 rpm (assuming a 25 inch diameter). o_0

[@HeriTranggono]

bloodhound SSC can reach incredible 1050mph

[@emperorSbraz]

sas really suck for these tasks: it's keeping the direction *on a sphere* so it tends to go off-course after a few km, more noticeable when flying planes at very high speeds. i never fly planes/spaceplanes with sas.

[@moodsurfer]

sky is beautiful

[@georgerussell2947]

I thorght it had a solid fuel booster