Land Speed Racing

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Land Speed Racing Spirit Of America, Thrust SSC    Interesting projects   Favorite Links 

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The Cockpit of Spirit Of America

At the top you can just see the 800mph Spedometer.

The removable steering wheel is on upside down to make access easier. The buttons are for the parachutes. Notice the starwars "May the force be with you" badge on the upper left. The gold rods on each side steer the front wheel just behind the driver. The sprint car steering box is just below, hydraulic pressure is provided by a Chevy power steering pump attached to the jet engine. There is a tiny speedvision camera perched on the steering box. Below that is a round knob that I think is for the fuel shut off. Craig Breedlove's legs go just above the saddle mounts for the steering box. There are pedals down there somewhere...

http:www.spiritofamerica.com

Thrust SSC, the current supersonic record holder. 763.035 mph!

Black Rock Desert, NV Oct 15, 1997

This photo was taken about a half hour after the British team Thrust SSC (super sonic car) set the first official supersonic record by running a distance of a measured mile two ways in under one hour.

763.035 mph in 4.696 average for a mile.

760.343 mph in 2.929 average for the kilometer.

Mach 1.036

(Yeah, that's me!)

  http:thrustssc.co

Spirit of America at Bonneville Salt Flats Wendover ,Utah.

(me again)

I went to Bonneville to see the Spirit Of America perform it's test runs. I waited 5 days and had to leave without seeing it run.

I hung around and saw the big swerve marks Craig breedlove left with SOA when he popped the chute at over 300mph! They went on for over a mile!

It was later found (at Black Rock Desert) the chute pods under the car were trapping air pressure under the car. Not only disturbing the parachute, but lifting the car!

The following year they moved the parachutes to the top of the car.

AUTOGHRAPH

Here is Andy Green right , me left, autographing a photo of Thrust SSC, (super sonic car) the day he broke the sound barrier.

It was inside and evening, causing the photo to blur. Miner's club Gerlach NV.

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AMAZING VIDEO OF THRUST SSC RUNNING!

THRUST SSC

A shot of the front of Thrust SSC, just after breaking the sound barrier.

Background

Plans were unveiled in June 1994 that G Force would have a major role to play in the design and manufacture of the Thrust SSC (Super Sonic Car), Richard Noble's Land Speed record attempt car.

Sponsorship from Castrol provided much of the funding for research and development of the 700mph vehicle. Powered by jet engines the super sonic car could accelerate to 600mph in just 16 seconds.

The Records

Location: Nevada Desert.

On Thursday September 25th 1997 Thrust SSC with driver Andy Green at the helm, broke the Land speed record. The new world record was set initially at 714.14 mph. Two days later they they attained their objective - reaching Mach 1.020 to set a two-way average of 763.035mph. An historic World First had been achieved!

The full story info and pictures can be found at the ThrustSSC web site

http://www.thrustssc.com

Technical Spec

Chassis:

Welded T45 tubular steel space frame

Body Shell:

Aluminium Carbon Fibre and Titanium

Engines:

Two Rolls Royce Spey 205s

Steering:

Worm drives acting on the rear wheels

Wheels:

Four, Solid forged Aluminium

Rear Arranged in Staggered formation

Length:

54ft (16.46 Metres)

Width:

12ft (3.65 Metres)

Weight:

7 Tons (7.11 Tonnes)Primary

Braking System:

At 650mph (1045kph) Single 7ft 6in (2.28metres) Irvin Parachute

At 400mph (645kph) Irvin ParachutesSecondary Braking SystemFront One pair of 17in (432mm) carbon disks. Two piston callipers acting on each wheel.

Rear Single 17in (432mm) carbon discs. Two piston callipers acting on each wheel.

Data Engine output 1000,00hp (75Mw) at maximum speedSpeed in excess of 850mph (1370kph). Acceleration 0-600mph (0-965kph) in 16 secondsLubricationCastrol synthetic lubricants, brake fluids, hydraulic fluids and greases.   

SPEEDING TICKET!

I'm afraid Andy Green got a speeding ticket while visiting the USA!

Given by the Nevada Bureau of Land Management.

This is a photo of Craig Breedlove waiting for Thrust SSC to run. As it turned out Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier that day and set an official supersonic land speed record.

His response to the record run was to vow to go 800 mph in Spirit Of America, and take the Land Speed Record back to America!

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