In this handout photo provided by Bloodhound, the vehicle speeds along the Hakskeenpan track in South Africa during trials to set a land speed record Friday, Nov. 8, 2019. Hitting 501 miles per hour on the South Africas northern desert, the Bloodhound became one of the worlds 10 fastest cars this week, on target for its goal to set a new land speed record. "The feeling in this car is fantastic," driver Andy Green told The Associated Press on Friday, days after the Bloodhound hit 501 mph (806 kph) in South Africa's northern desert. Its crew is working flat out in South Africa to refine all aspects of the car. Over the next few weeks, Green and the Grafton team hope to get Bloodhound up to 600 mph (965 kph).

It will then attempt to break the land speed record, which currently stands at 763 mph, in late 2020. Bloodhound SSC (Supersonic Car) traveled at 200 mph in test runs at Cornwall Airport in England in October 2017, after a years-long effort to launch the high-speed vehicle of the future. Data from its test runs will be analyzed in real time, in preparation for next year's record attempt. "We're running the car on a brand new surface," Warhurst, Bloodhound Land Speed Record's CEO, said in a statement. It has taken more than a decade of design, research and manufacturing to build -- all in an attempt to smash the current land speed record, set in 1997.