Britain, Cars And Land Speed Records

A SPEEDING car, or any moving body for that matter, transmits sound waves ahead of itself forcing the up coming air molecules to make way for this approaching mass. At 742mph however this moving body will catch up to these generated sound waves which will collect and form a pressure wave in front, this pressure wave is the sound barrier.

Breaking the sound barrier triggers an immediate change in air pressure, releasing the pressure from the shock wave and causing the deafening crack of a sonic boom. To go faster than the speed of sound, somehow, the body must pass through this barrier without being torn to bits like it has been put through an office shredder.

Well, the land speed record is beyond that barrier now and the next milestone is to break the 1,000mph limit, and it may not be too far away.

Ever since the invention of the motor vehicle there has been a small but exclusively determined number of individuals who have dedicated their lives to break the world land speed record, and for many of them, the cost was their lives. Breaking the record doesn’t guarantee world wide fame either, unless it is a significant numerical milestone and even then the record breakers rarely become household names or celebrities.

The world’s first certified Land Speed Record was an electrically powered vehicle driven by Frenchman Gaston De Chasseloup Laubat who was recorded at 39.24mph. Electric powered cars broke this record several times over the next couple of years and then steam power took over before the internal combustion engine ruled. The 100mph target came about in 1904, and it was another Frenchman, Louis Rigolly at the wheel. After breaking 150mph Malcolm Campbell was determined to break the 200mph barrier but was pipped in 1927 by a fellow Englishman, Henry Seagrave driving a 1,000 HP Sunbeam. Campbell broke Seagraves record the following year but was disappointed not be the first to 200mph.

It had taken 23 years to add 100mph but it took only eight years a add another 100 to the record. Next, it was Malcolm Campbell who was first to reach the 300 mark. Malcolm was knighted by King George V for his achievements, he died in 1948. Campbell was one of the few land speed record holders of his era to die of natural causes, with so many dying in crashes.

The 300mph had come relatively quickly after the 200mph record but the next milestone (400mph) proved to be a much more difficult proposition as the internal combustion engine just wasn’t up to the task. Englishman John Cobb came more than close in 1947, and did surpass 400mph on one pass but the rules state that the speed be recorded over one mile and in two passes in opposite directions, his official speed was recorded at 394mph.

There was a dispute at the time the 400mph barrier was eventually broken, as the car that first reached that speed wasn’t wheel driven but thrust powered. Craig Breedlove in his turbojet thrust powered Spirit of America broke 400mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1963. While Donald Campbell (Sir Malcolm’s son) reached 400mph the following year in the wheel driven Turboshaft Bluebird CN3.

It was the end of the line for not only the internal combustion engine but also wheel driven machines when it came to the pursuit of the land speed record, as jet power was to take over in the fight for the title “the fastest man on earth”. American, Bob Summers still holds the record for the non-supercharged piston engine, wheel driven car, he recorded 409mph in 1965.

After breaking 400, Craig Breedlove went on to break 500 and then 600mph. Breedlove had dueled it out with compatriot Art Arfons for years with each surpassing the other on several occasions but it was he who hit the milestones and so can be judged as the world’s best land speed racing driver to date.

High enthusiasm on joining the “700mph club”, even amongst the most passionate egotistical speed record hopefuls, was not as it was for previous milestones, as the ultimate was in sight. A further 42mph would, of course, bring you to the barrier and with it the sonic boom to prove that you made it through.

Richard Noble OBE (born in Edinburgh Scotland in 1943) hit 633mph and the world record at that time in 1983. But, it turned out Noble’s speed was no great milestone, although his record stood for 14 years. Like all that went before him Noble had a quest to remain the fastest man on earth. He passed on that quest to a younger man, but Noble would build the vehicle to help reach the barrier. Richard Noble’s twin powered Rolls Royce Spey turbofan engined Thrust SSC which developed 50,000lbf of thrust and consumed 4.8 US gallons of fuel a second (or 0.04 miles per gallon US) broke the sound barrier in the Black Rock Dessert, Nevada on October 15 1997. This was exactly half-a-century and one day after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in Earth’s atmosphere in the Bell X-1 rocket plane.

In Nobles case the vehicle was driven by Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Andy Green, who is currently the fastest man on earth. Is the sound barrier enough for Richard Noble and the team? Not on your life; in 2011 they plan to go 1,000mph and are on course to achieve it according to Richard.

The new car is named the Bloodhound and it is a totally different animal than the Thrust SSC, in this case it is a combination of rocket propulsion and jet power. This hybrid powered design uses a Euro fighter EJ200 jet engine to control the output thrust of the rocket by throttling the jet alone. An 800HP V12 race car engine will power the hydraulics and fuel pump to inject a ton of rocket fuel in 22 seconds to the rockets catalyst, and this will propel the beast to 1,000mph and retain that speed for a full one mile in one direction and repeat the feat in the opposite direction.

Noble’s team have competition though, the Americans have been somewhat peeved at playing second fiddle to Britain for the last 25 years in their quest to be the fastest on earth, and now a team named North American Eagle are trying to beat UK’s Bloodhound team to the 1,000 mark with their machine. Their vehicle will use an F-104 Starfighter jet engine for propulsion and they aim to try it on the next 4th of July which is a year ahead of Bloodhound’s scheduled attempt.

Will the Americans succeed? Well, the odds are against them. The physics of high speed movement faces diminishing returns the faster they go, thus will require exponentially more horse power than it took to reach the sound barrier, still they might break the current record.

Aye the race is on and it’s not just about speed, it’s who will get there first, there have been thousands of people that have scaled Mount Everest and thousands who have ran a four minute mile but we only remember the first ones.

Happy Motoring

You can contact Phil through Leo Lewis at leolewis12@yahoo.com
or PO Box 5691, Oxnard, CA 93031.