Ian Warhurst, owner and CEO of Bloodhound LSR, said that unless the company finds new investment sources quickly, the project would have to be frozen indefinitely or sold to a third party.
The work started way back in 2008. The Bloodhound was envisioned as a monstrous land vehicle fitted with a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet plane engine (Eurofighter Typhoon) and a Nammo hybrid rocket engine. It was meant to reach the land speed of 800 miles per hour and then 1000 mph (1,287.48 and 1,609.34 km/h, respectively).
Unfortunately, continued financial troubles led to one failed deadline after another, ultimately rendering Bloodhound Programme Ltd. insolvent. The car could only reach 200 miles per hour (322 km/h) at that point. Warhurst bought out the struggling business and made the LSR hit 335 mph (540 km/h) and then 1,010 km/h (627 mph) in 2019. Renewed financing issues multiplied by the coronavirus outbreak prevented the next planned run from happening in 2020.
Another record-breaking run had been scheduled to take place in South Africa later this year, but the engineering crew once again missed the deadline.