ThrustSSC
The ThrustSSC ( Thrust S uper S onic C ar, English for relapsing-powered, supersonic car ) is a British jet powered car that the land speed record as the fastest land vehicle holds the world and also was the first country vehicle that recognized that the sound barrier broke. The ThrustSSC is now located in the Museum of British Road Transport in Coventry .
technology
The ThrustSSC is powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey with afterburners that deliver 110,000 hp (80,800 kW) and consume 18 liters of fuel per second. It is 16.5 m long, 3.7 m wide and weighs 10.5 tons. Its development cost around 10 million euros and was led by Richard Noble and Ron Ayers . Richard Noble set a world record for the fastest land vehicle in 1983 with the Thrust2 (at 1,018 km / h). The ThrustSSC can reach a speed of 100 mph (approx. 161 km / h) within 4 seconds and has broken the 600 mph mark (approx. 966 km / h) after 16 seconds.
In order to brake the ThrustSSC from such high speeds, it has two brake screens in addition to the disc brakes . The first is intended for braking from high speeds and has a diameter of 2.28 m. At a speed of 600 mph, this wing generates a braking force of around 100 kN. The second brake parachute for slowing down in the low speed range has a diameter of 4.57 m and develops a braking force of about 60 kN at 200 mph (approx. 321 km / h).
Speed record
preparation
To test the new type of vehicle, longer tests were carried out for the first time in October and November 1996 and in May and June 1997 in the Al Jafr desert east of Maan in Jordan . The Jordanian test track has the great advantage that it is dry for several months, which considerably reduced the time pressure on the project. The salt flats in the western USA , which are usually used for speed records (on which the actual world record drive later took place), on the other hand, can only be used for one month a year.
Record run
On October 15, 1997, the vehicle with military pilot Andy Green as driver set the record of 1,227.985 km / h as an average speed over a mile in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada ( USA ). At the same time it broke the sound barrier.
Other record runs
Even if the ThrustSSC was the first car to be recognized for a supersonic drive, it is unclear whether the recognized record drive was really the first supersonic drive of a car. It is possible that the Budweiser Rocket, under the leadership of the American Stan Barrett, reached a Mach number of 1.01 on December 17, 1979 at Edwards Air Force Base on Rogers Dry Lake . However, this record was not officially recognized by the FIA , as measurement errors were suspected and neither the vehicle nor the procedure of the record attempt complied with the FIA regulations.
Richard Noble's team is working on a successor, the Bloodhound SSC . This vehicle is expected to reach a speed of 1,000 mph by the end of 2020, i.e. around 1,609 km / h. An American team tried to break the ThrustSSC world record with the North American Eagle , a Lockheed F-104 converted into a car . On August 27, 2019, the driver Jessi Combs had a serious accident with the North American Eagle in the Alvord Desert in the US state of Oregon and died at the scene of the accident.
Web links
- Official website (Warning: the website is no longer updated.)
- Technical description of the vehicle
- Official website of the follow-up project
Individual evidence
- ↑ The FIA list with the absolute world records at: fia.com - FIA World Land Speed Records (PDF; 28 kB, English)
- ↑ Jessi Combs: "Fastest woman on four wheels" dies in an accident with a rocket car on spiegel.de, accessed on August 29, 2019
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Thrust2 |
fastest land vehicle in the world since October 15, 1997 |
Bloodhound SSC (planned) |