The British team hoping to drive a car faster than 1,000mph has unveiled a full-scale model of the vehicle.

The 1:1 replica of the 12.8m-long (42ft) Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC) is the result of three years of aerodynamic study.

The model is a star turn at this year's Farnborough International Air Show.

The team has announced that aerospace manufacturer Hampson Industries will begin building the rear of the real vehicle in the first quarter of 2011.

Another deal to construct the front end with a second company is very close.

"We now have a route to manufacture for the whole car," said chief engineer Mark Chapman.

"We would hope to be able to shake down the vehicle on a runway in the UK either at the end of 2011 or at the beginning of 2012," he told BBC News.

How loud is a sonic boom on the ground?

And the BBC and other news agencies continue to remind me that I left Farnborough 2 weeks too soon...