The Bloodhound LSR technicians and mechanics have been tracking down the source of the intermittent engine bay overheat warning. They removed the tail fin and split the rear chassis in order to drop out the EJ200 jet engine and inspect the engine bay. A damaged FireWire, a cable designed to degrade with high temperatures, was quickly found. Temperature stickers in the engine bay indicated they had seen a temperature of 127°c. The chassis is designed for continuous use at 120°c. So the team are reviewing the time of day and temperatures that we’re happy to run the car in, and making improvements to the engine bay cooling.There are number of other minor repairs to (non essential, but nice to have) sensors that we can now access, so we’re fixing those too whilst the engine is out and the chassis split.
Unsurprisingly this was not an issue we saw when we ran the car at Newquay, but then a Cornish winter is not the same as a Kalahari summer!We’re aiming to have the car back together and running next week.
