Bloodhound LSR car hits 500mph in bid for land-speed record

Jet-propelled British vehicle tested in South Africa before attempt to beat 763mph in 2020

Under the blistering Kalahari sun, a British-made machine that looks like a mash-up between a grand prix car, a fighter plane and a spaceship has broken the 500mph mark as it bids to break the land-speed record.

There have been a few frights and hitches - including a fire scare - but the hope is that within the next few days Bloodhound LSR, which has been taking shape in a college workshop on the banks of the River Severn in Gloucestershire, will whizz through the desert at about 600mph.