The company, which has a turnover of approximately £30 million and employs around 80 staff at its Exeter headquarters and more than 240 worldwide, will now be both a financial sponsor and a product sponsor.
Bloodhound is a five-year project to create a supersonic car capable of achieving 1000mph (Mach 1.4) – faster in a straight line than many a jet fighter at low altitude.
The mission, led by Richard Noble OBE and driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, aims to beat the current world land speed record of 763mph, set by Thrust SSC (super sonic car) in October 1997.
Goodridge, renowned for its flexible hose systems, supported Richard Noble through the last two speed record attempts, Thrust2 and Thrust SSC.
Goodridge has already worked with the Bloodhound engineering team to supply a unique large-bore hose assembly to enable the delivery of rocket fuel to Bloodhound’s Falcon rocket engine, using a V12 race car engine to drive the oxidiser pump. This is a bespoke application assembly, but has a close connection with some of the Goodridge products offered in Nascar racing.
Over the coming months the teams will work closely together on a range of other fluid transfer challenges for Bloodhound as the programme proceeds to the car build.
Goodridge chairman and founder, Stuart Goodridge, said: “We are delighted to continue the excellent relationship between Goodridge and Richard Noble and Andy Green, which began with Thrust2 and continued with Thrust SSC.
“Goodridge hose and fittings have been incorporated into all these vehicles and we look forward to working with the Bloodhound team, to play our part in ensuring the success of this iconic engineering adventure.”
Richard Noble said: “It was a great moment when Goodridge decided to back us with the Thrust2 programme in 1979 and we’re absolutely delighted to have continued the relationship both through the very successful Thrust SSC programme and now into Bloodhound.”
Bloodhound is seeking to inspire the next generation of UK engineers and scientists, with more than 3,600 schools already involved in the project.
And it will be a showcase for British engineering and manufacturing, with more than 200 companies involved. In 1997, the Thrust SSC website attracted 59 million hits across more than 300 million pages – around 30 times the traffic of a top Formula One team – and Bloodhound is expected to eclipse that.
Goodridge customers range from Formula One and NASCAR teams to Jaguar, Bentley, Aston Martin, BAe Systems and Polaris Industries.
Last year, racing legend Sir Stirling Moss opened a £500,000 extension to the company’s Exeter Airport base, marking its 40th year in business.
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