Its earlier best of 501mph (806km/h) was set almost 2 weeks ago, after which the car suffered some technical problems.
However, on Friday, Bloodhound went out early on to its dry lakebed track when the temperatures were cool and there was merely a breath of wind.
These are the situation most conducive to fast running.
If it’s really warm, Bloodhound’s Eurofighter jet engine takes a little bit of time to get up to speed, and the presence of a stiff breeze can produce some tricky handling for the motorist, RAF pilot Andy Green.
Both of these concerns are commonly avoided by running just after dawn – and so it confirmed on Friday.
After posting 562mph, the British team sent Bloodhound back to its tech tent on the edge of Hakskeen Pan to analyze the performance data. The car is adorned with sensors that record exactly how it behaved as it screamed across the mud cake surface.
Engineers will also analyze the health of the vehicle.
The high-speed trials in South Africa’s Northern Cape area have seen Bloodhound boost its pace in broadly 50mph increments.
This step-by-step program would indicate now to the next run attempting to go beyond 600mph (965km/h). But the team will only try this if it’s satisfied Bloodhound is technically ready and the circumstances are safe.
Until now, just seven vehicles in the history of the land speed record have raced over 600mph: Sonic 1, Blue Flame, Thrust2, Budweiser Rocket, Sonic Arrow, Aussie Invader III; and Thrust SSC, which set the present world best of 763mph (1,228km/h) in 1997.
The team reached at Hakskeen Pan in mid-October. The lakebed has been cleared of 16,000 tonnes of stones to bring the smoothest potential ride for Bloodhound.
This herculean effort was undertaken by local people who hope the pan will become a draw in the future for other speedsters, thus giving an increase to the economy.
