McGlashan claims a 638 MPH pass in Aussie Invader III in 1996, meaning Mr. Amos' list of six over-600 vehicles should really include seven.
Mr. Amos has updated the article and responded to an email I sent on the topic. Rosco McGlashan also responded - how cool is that?
That is cool. Did Rosco provide any more detail on Aussie Invader III's runs. e.g. when; how fast; how was speed calculated?
I didn't ask for more detail. The statements are on the AI website, including here:
http://aussieinvader.com/the-challenge/where it says 'a one-way pass of 638 MPH'. Another:
http://aussieinvader.com/the-people/rosco-mcglashan-oam-2/past-machines/here it says 'a peak speed of 638 MPH'.
Generally I think Rosco has run against the accepted timing norms, e.g., over a mile in two directions, using timing lights and precision clocks, but I don't have a ton of evidence of this. Mostly the story about running over 'timing equipment' in AI 2 and terminally damaging the car (which is repeated in John Ackroyd's
Jet Blast and the Hand of Fate, btw).
But also explanations of why he did not set a record, specifically by failing to make a return pass over a measured mile within an hour.
Apropos other comments, I think both the BBC article author and McGlashan were claiming nothing more than 'at some point the vehicle was moving at over 600 MPH'. These are not records nor claims of same, or at least I didn't interpret them that way.
I'm not a sanctioning body nor a timing authority (though in a former life I spent a lot of time thinking about telecom network timing and time distribution). While I might not
personally believe a record speed claim made solely against GPS measurements, I think quality GPS-based measurement is sufficiently accurate to closely approximate how fast something is moving. So when the Bloodhound crew claim that that vehicle was moving at 628 MPH at some point during a run, and that value was derived from a GPS-based measurement, I'm inclined to believe it. Again, I don't see that as a record claim in any form.
One could always ask Rosco how they measured AI 3 speed, there's a 'Contact Us' link here:
http://aussieinvader.com/contact-us/. Ditto for Bloodhound.
Tim