Landracing Forum
Thrust-powered Land Speed information => Discussions on absolute land speed records => Topic started by: J79 on June 02, 2016, 05:25:46 PM
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With all the time, work and money that goes into building a thrust powered turbine car, should they be retired or could they be used again and possibly break more land speed records or are they retired because that is all the speed you can get from them/too dangerous to drive...? Specifically, Richard Nobles Thrust 2, Thrust SSC and Craig Breedloves Spirit of America the newest pointy White Car.
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First off, the SCTA will not allow (likely ever again) thrust powered vehicles (either jet or rocket) as they did in the early 60's.
You seem to mix up the use of turbine vs. jet. yes a jet uses a turbine but is a thrust powered engine.
Most proper turbine engines are shaft driven.
Turbine powered "wheel driven" vehicles ARE currently allowed in SCTA competition. There are currently 3 classes for such vehicles.
Lastly, the 3 cars you mentioned had all reached their useful speed range with little if any in reserve.
Nobles "Thrust II" according to his designer John Ackroyd Thrust II was in danger of flying within the next 10 MPH (it had a terminal speed of 650 MPH for the 633 MPH average) according to his calculations.
Thrust SSC had also reached its limits with regard to the friction coefficient of the wheels on the dry lake at Blackrock and the power available from the engines, albeit good enough to break the sound barrier setting the current land speed record at 763 MPH
As for Breedloves Spirit of America she too almost flew & major work was done to install larger front canards along with other aero mods, so Craig was lucky to set the record at 600 MPH back in 1965.
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John Ackroyd also worried about Thrust SSC getting light in the front at speed.
Here is a picture of the team testing the automatic rockets that would fire IF the Thrust SSC got light in front.
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Is it against rules for the cars to adjust the downward force during the run to prevent the lifting of the front end using adjustable wings as the speeds got higher and the car more likely to flip over? I thought I read that the wings were not allowed to be adjusted during the run? Is that true? Could that rule be easily changed due to the higher speeds and the danger of not allowing wing adjustments during the run? Seems like it would be good judgement to allow wing adjustment during the run.
Can you explain what "friction coefficient of the wheels on the dry lake at Blackrock" means? Does that mean the wheels are getting too hot?
Did Craig Breedloves car, the white one, flip on its side due to an error in the wind readings? It was 15mph and he thought it was 1.5mph winds?
Did the Thrust SSC or any of the cars have a gauge inside for the driver to see how light/heavy the front end was during the runs or was that looked at after the runs were over?
First off, the SCTA will not allow (likely ever again) thrust powered vehicles (either jet or rocket) as they did in the early 60's.
Lastly, the 3 cars you mentioned had all reached their useful speed range with little if any in reserve.
Nobles "Thrust II" according to his designer John Ackroyd Thrust II was in danger of flying within the next 10 MPH (it had a terminal speed of 650 MPH for the 633 MPH average) according to his calculations.
Thrust SSC had also reached its limits with regard to the friction coefficient of the wheels on the dry lake at Blackrock and the power available from the engines, albeit good enough to break the sound barrier setting the current land speed record at 763 MPH
As for Breedloves Spirit of America she too almost flew & major work was done to install larger front canards along with other aero mods, so Craig was lucky to set the record at 600 MPH back in 1965.