The Bloodhound Land Speed Record project is looking for a new owner to take the team through to setting a new World Land Speed Record in 2022.

In 2019, Bloodhound was taken to South Africa to successfully undergo high-speed testing — it smashed the test programme target of 500mph, reaching a top speed of 628mph, validating the computer modelling used in designing the car and proving that it has real record-breaking capability.

The team now needs to install the Nammo monopropellant rocket, giving the car a top speed of over 800mph. Once again, the car will then be taken back to South Africa to run on its specially prepared 12-mile long dry lake bed race track at Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape.

Completing the rocket installation and taking the car to South Africa to exceed 800mph is expected to cost £8 million, based on the costs of the test programme to date.

With a global following and a high level of media coverage, including the highly successful Channel 4 documentary Building the World’s Fastest Car which aired late last year, the project’s fundraising potential is significant as the record attempt gets closer.

The project is expected to recoup increasingly large amounts through sponsorship and rights sales as the programme develops, making this a unique and exciting investment.

Ian Warhurst, Bloodhound LSR’s current owner and chief executive, is now stepping back from leading the project and putting the vehicle up for sale.

After buying the car out of administration at the end of 2018, he has more than achieved his original objectives of rescuing the Bloodhound project and ensuring the team took the car to South Africa in 2019 to complete the high-speed test programme.

However, the current economic climate brought on by the global pandemic has severely impacted the search for fundraising and the project timeline. As a result, Mr Warhurst is inviting a new owner to take over Grafton LSR Ltd, the holding company which owns the Bloodhound LSR project.

The new owner will inherit a proven high-speed car with a demonstrated potential for a world land speed record. He continued: “It has been a privilege to lead this team of world-class engineers over the past two years. I was spellbound – along with a huge audience around the world – as we tested the car to speeds of over 600mph in South Africa.”

“When I committed to take the car high speed testing in 2019, I allocated enough funding to achieve this goal on the basis that alternative funding would then allow us to continue to the record attempts.

“Along with many other things, the global pandemic wrecked this opportunity in 2020 which has left the project unfunded and delayed by a further 12 months. At this stage, in absence of further, immediate, funding, the only options remaining are to close down the programme or put the project up for sale to allow me to pass the baton and allow the team to continue the project.

“This gives someone with the right passion and available funding to effectively swoop in at the last minute and take the prize. I will, of course, be cheering from the sidelines when Bloodhound smashes through 800mph.”

The project has inevitably been held back by the effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Work now needs to restart in the next few months to get ready for a 2022 record attempt. The alternative would be to put the car into long-term storage, with no certainty of being able to restart the project.

As the prospect of a post-Covid world beckons, the Bloodhound team now needs to find a new owner to continue its ‘engineering adventure’.

Bloodhound driver Andy Green said: “In my opinion, the Bloodhound team has built the best Land Speed Record Car ever. It made our 628mph test run look easy! We are now raring to get to 800-plus mph, to showcase this technical marvel and to invite a global audience to join in an incredibly exciting adventure.

“After the horrible 2020 pandemic year we have all just experienced, the world needs a good news story, and Bloodhound is ready to deliver it.”