Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's... a car?

Yes, but not just any car: if all goes well this vehicle will hit 1,000 mph and break the world land speed record in 2011.

Here's the October 24, 2008 Device Daily story.
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British Engineers Hoping To Achieve 1,000 MPH To Break Land Speed Record

A team of British engineers is trying to break the world land speed record with a rocket-powered car and they will not do it “just like that”, they are hoping to achieve it with style and reach 1,000 mph, or 1,600 kmph. The current land speed record of a vehicle is also held by a British team who managed to drive a car called ThrustSSC with a speed of 763 mph.

This car that is supposed to reach 1,000 mph is called the Bloodhound Super Sonic car and it will be driven by Andy Green, who also has driven the ThrustSSC.

“We have held the land speed record for the last 25 years and we still hold it. There is early competition developing and we have to defend our record,” said Richard Noble, the leader of the project and the man who first set a land speed record in 1983.

The Bloodhound Super Sonic car will measure 13 meters long while the weight will stand around 6.4 tonnes. It should be enough to withstand heavy pressures of about 12 tonnes of force per sq-meter. Although the project has been announced, for the moment the team didn’t manage to raise all the money needed to achieve their goal — about $16.1 million are needed for the project currently under development at the Bristol University.

The project should be completed in one-year time, and the new record should be achieved by 2011. In conclusion, Noble said that they aren’t doing this only for the high speeds or records, as another reason is to attract more and more children to study engineering.

“Going fast is not the total reason for doing this. We’re setting off today on the most incredible engineering adventure which we hope will inspire the future generations to take up careers in science, engineering and technology,” concluded Noble.
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Faster than a speeding bullet.

[via Milena]