WORLD LAND-SPEED RECORD
Progress Report No1
by Roy S. Peters
BACKGROUND
Ever since 1898 when the first WLSR (World Land Speed
Record) was set, people
have sought to become faster. That record was at 39.24 mph
and today it stands at
633.47 mph.
Anyone who has the funds, the machine, the team, the 'guts'
etc etc can break the
record at any time - subject to the rules applying at the
time (and the weather of
course !!)
I say "anytime", which is true - but bouts of multiple
challenges on the WLSR come
only once per generation. Previous Eras of record-breaking
peaked in the 1924-1939
time-frame and, more recently, in the 1963-65 era. Starting
this year, we enter
probably the most exciting era of the lot because it will be
contested at far higher
speeds.
THE FIRST ERA
This era, comprised such people as Malcolm Campbell, Henry
Segrave,Parry Thomas,
Ray Keech, George Eyston and John Cobb when the record
advanced from 141.37
mph to 369.47. It was the age of the monster cars, and like
today they were mostly
aero-engined.
THE SECOND ERA
This comprised such drivers as Donald Campbell, Craig
Breedlove, Bob Summers,
Tom Green and Art Arfons. They advanced (mainly due to the duel
between Craig and Art)
the record from 403.10 to 600.60 mph. This was the era of extreme
excitement as, in the
short space of 27 months the record was advanced by this vast
amount with 11 new records
adding 50% to the WLSR.
SINCE THE SIXTIES
The two official record-breakers since then have been the
late Gary Gabelich
(the
rocket-powered Blue Flame) and Richard Noble (the Avon 302 jet in
Thrust 2) the current
holder. The un-official fastest-man is Stan Barrett (at 739.67
mph in the Budweiser Rocket).
The rules were broken by Stan and his promoter (film producer Hal
Needham of
fame) in that the required two-way runs were not done, over the
measured mile or kilometer
in opposite directions within the hour. They were just interested
in peak-speed but they did
a one-way pass over a measured 52.80 feet with unofficial timing
gear. Some have suggested
it might have been a doppler measurement.
THE NEW ERA STARTS THIS WEEK
On Thursday evening, at one of our meeting places (at the
historic Brooklands circuit
remnants) we will anounce the driver of the future WLSR vehicle
Thrust SSC. A
Tomorrow's World crew will be in attendance filming the
announcement to show on their
programme on Friday, February 3rd. The car is progressing on
schedule and roll-out is
expected in June of this year. As before, Ricard Noble is the
Project Manager. That has
always been his forte and the subject on which he has always
lectured.
THE COMPETITION
It is going to be a scramble not only for the record but for
the first person to hold it
at a supersonic speed. Our opposition is more numerous than first
thought, there being SIX
OTHER cars being developped for the attempt. Some we take as more
serious threats than
others. Some may not even have supersonic potential !! Three
previous holders (including
Richard) are associated with various teams.
They are:
1. McLAREN MAVERICK - roll-out date unknown, but project manager
Ron Dennis is
using an ex-Tornado RB199 as itys power-plant. This is a serious
threat.
2. SPIRIT OF AMERICA - SONIC ARROW This is Craig Breedlove's
baby!! This uses
the standard J-79 power -plant and will have a roll-out date
similar to Richard's.
3. GREEN MONSTER - This is Art Arfons baby, - but not the same
beast as he was
campaigning in the 60's. It is already running, works well up to
about 400mph, but has
handling problems above that. It uses the smaller, lightweight
lower-powered GE-J85
powerplant.
4. AMERICAN EAGLE 1 Project has three major partners, which
include a guy you may
have seen on TV a week or two ago, Les Shockley. You may remember
him giving an
airoplane a flying start over a short distance and beating it
with a `lorry' (well, an American
track with three jet engines which has a 0-300mph in 7 seconds
capability). He won't be
using the lorry for the WLSR attempt - but his own car with,
again, a J-79 engine.
5. My old-mate SAMMY MILLER. He's been driving rocket-dragsters
and `funny-cars' for
well over a decade. In 1985 he gave me details of his rocket-car
for the WLSR attempt (has
a 0-900mph in 20 secs capability!!). Last year he told me that it
was OK up to 400mph but
a devil to drive at higher speeds. I warned him about the rapid
rate of change of centre of
gravity due to the high fuel-burn rate. His latest creation is a
hybrid `jet & rocket car'. In
fact, the one that I saw last year was a research vehicle to
assess the concept. If it works OK,
he's already got the chassis for it ,- that was built a few years
ago!!
6. AUSSIE INVADER 2 - This car is already built and in last years
trials was almost up to
600mph. Rosco McGlashen has been running for two years on Lake
Gairdner in South
Australia. The car is similar to Thrust2, but has less power and
a smaller front-crosssection.
His track is blessed with lower frictional drag that those in the
Northern Hemisphere - so,
if their `season' is 6 months ahead of ours as well, Rosco could
be the first to beat Richard's
1983 record of 633.47 mph ! I doubt that it has supersonic
capabilities but it could be a
serious sub-sonic challenger.
SUPERSONIC OR SUBSONIC ??
Richard intends that his project establishes a supersonic record.
He advertises it as an 850mph vehicle (only fully researched to
there!) but my own simulations, and Richard's studies, seem to
indicate a 1000mph potential (including safely returning to 0mph
by the end of a 10mile track!)
The potential for establishing a new subsonic record is a bit
cramped. Richard's 1983 record, where the body of the car was
sub-sonic, was already trans-sonic - i.e. some of the airflow was
already supersonic (e.g. over the wheel-arches and the driver's
canopy!)
NEWS
In this series of reports, I hope to keep you up-to-date with
progress. If you hear something that I haven't told you about,
please let me know in case it isn't in my 'information bank'.
Thank you very much!
I already have a relational database comprising all (or nearly
all) information on drivers and their machines, for successful
and legally-achieved records, from which you are welcome to make
queries. This goes right back to the year dot (i.e. 1898 in WLSR
terms).
30 January 1995 (Reformatted 7 March 1998)
and further editted on 3 March 2005.
Return to Roy's home page for full
list
of writings and travels either finished or under
preparation
or go to Newsletter No 2 .