1960 Mickey Thompson Tries Again to Become the Fastest Driver in History
Peter Lobner
The commencement state speed record (LSR) at greater than 400 mph (643.7 kph) was assault 17 July 1964 by Uk driver Donald Campbell in the wheel-driven, gas turbine-powered streamliner named Bluebird CN7. Regarding his new official land speed record of 403.x mph (648.73 kph) in the measured mile, a disappointed Campbell is reported to have said, "We've fabricated it – we got the bastard at last." Campbell idea the Bluebird CN7 was capable of much higher speeds, but did not mount another LSR challenger with that car.
This year, 54 years after Campbell's tape run, Team Vesco's Turbinator II became the get-go bicycle-driven vehicle to exceed 500 mph (804.7 kph). In addition, at that place are several LSR contenders in diverse vehicle designs that regularly are making runs in the 400 – 500 mph range. Donald Campbell might be impressed with the current state of the "sport." Let's accept a await at what's happened in 2018.
1. Governing country speed records
The FIA (Fédération Internationale de 50'Automobile) establishes the process for making globe land speed record (LSR) attempts and certifying the resulting speeds. FIA record attempts are standardized over a fixed length class (mile and kilometer) and averaged over two runs in opposite directions that must exist completed inside one hour. The FIA's home folio for land speed records is at the following link:
https://www.fia.com/fia-world-land-speed-records
You lot'll find the FIA'south technical regulations governing LSR attempts in Appendix D at the post-obit link:
https://www.fia.com/appendix-d-regulations-state-speed-tape-attempts-2018
The FIA defines four basic categories of LSR vehicles:
- Category A LSR vehicles are purpose-congenital, wheel-driven automobiles that may exist powered past whatsoever of a multifariousness of engines, including Otto cycle (4-cycle), Diesel cycle (2-cycle), rotary, electrical, gas turbine, or steam, or any hybrid combination of these engines.
- Category B LSR vehicles are derived from series product automobiles, with the same basic engine options as Category A (as long equally you can stuff it into a series production automobile).
- Category C applies to "special automobiles," including LSR vehicles that are not cycle-driven, merely instead are powered by the thrust of jet and/or rocket engines.
- Category D LSR vehicles are drag racing automobiles.
Within Categories A and B, the FIA defines Groups based on fuel type and Classes based on engine displacement and vehicle weight. In Category C, Groups may be defined based on engine blazon.
World motorcycle LSR records are managed separately by the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme).
In contrast to FIA LSR rules, US National land speed records are the average of two runs going in the same direction over a ii-twenty-four hour period period. The rationale is that national events such as Bonneville Speed Week involve too many vehicles to swap directions on the class in less than lx minutes. The basic processes defined by the Southern California Timing Clan (SCTA) and used during Speed Week are every bit follows:
For each run on the Bonneville five-mile long course, five different speeds are determined:
- The outset speed reported is referred to as the "quarter" and is the average speed over a one,320-foot (quarter mile) timing trap that starts at the 2-mile marker.
- Next, times are recorded and average speeds are determined over 3 flying mile intervals: from mile 2 to mile 3, from mile iii to mile iv (the "eye mile"), and from mile 4 to mile 5. Official fourth dimension slips refer to these as Mile 3, Mile iv, and Mile five.
- The final timing number is called "leave speed", or final speed, which is an average speed measured over a 132-pes trap at the end of Mile 5.
When a machine makes a first run at a speed greater than an existing record, it goes into "impound," where the following process applies:
- Subsequently being impounded, the squad has 4 hours to work on the car.
- The team must exist back at the rails by 6 AM the next 24-hour interval, when it has some other hour of prepare the car for the second run (i.due east., add fuel, ice coolant, etc.).
- The car must be at the start line by 7 AM, ready to make its 2nd run.
If the average between the 2 runs is greater than the existing record, a new National tape is awarded.
The SCTA defines several vehicle categories, with their Category A (special construction vehicles) being comparable to FIA Category A.
2. Category C LSR contenders in 2018
Category C LSR contenders, with jet or rocket propulsion, have been the fastest LSR vehicles in the earth since Craig Breedlove set the absolute land speed record at 407.447 mph (655.722 kph) in the measured mile at Bonneville on 5 Baronial 1963 in the turbojet-powered, iii-wheeled Spirit of America. The FIA considered this to be an unofficial tape because Spirit of America merely had three wheels. This tape later was ratified by the FIM. Since 1963, half-dozen other Category C LSR vehicles have held the absolute state speed record: Wingfoot Express, Light-green Monster, Spirit of America Sonic one, Blue Flame, Thrust2 and ThrustSSC (supersonic motorcar).
The electric current FIA accented state speed records are:
- 763.035 mph (1,227.986 kph) for the measured mile, and
- 760.343 mph (1,223.657 kph) for the measured kilometer
These records were set on 15 October 1997 past the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland LSR vehicle Thrust SSC, which completed the required two runs in reverse directions within one hour on a rails in the Blackness Rock Desert in Nevada. Thrust SSC was driven by Andy Greenish when it became the first supersonic LSR vehicle, achieving an average speed through the measured gates of Mach 1.016.
In 2018, the ii master Category C LSR contenders were the Britain Bloodhound SSC, which is under development and successfully completed low speed trials (> 200 mph, 322 kph), and the Usa North American Eagle, which has been running for many years and has reached a maximum speed of > 500 mph (805 kph). Following is a brief review of these Category C LSR programs.
Bloodhound SSC – Did it die in 2018, or is there still hope?
In posts in March 2015, September 2015 and Jan 2017, I reported on the ambitious United kingdom project to create a one,000 mph state speed record car known as the Bloodhound SSC.
In 2006, Lord Drayson, the UK Minister of Scientific discipline, proposed developing a new UK LSR vehicle to LSR holders Richard Noble (Thrust two) and Andy Green (Thrust SSC). This led to the formation of the Bloodhound SSC project, which was announced on 23 Oct 2008, along with an associated education component designed to inspire future generations to have upward careers in science, engineering, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Bloodhound SSC project website is here:
http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project
Original plans were for the Bloodhound SSC to make its LSR runs on the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa (see my March 2015 post), with initial trial runs starting in 2016. As development of Bloodhound SSC continued, the dates for the initial LSR runs slipped gradually to 2017, 2018 and about recently to the end of 2019.
In 2017, Bloodhound SSC conducted five weeks of testing, including its first successful public "shakedown" run on 26 Oct 2017, on the 9,000 foot (i.67 mile, 2.seven km) rails at the Cornwall Airport in Newquay, Britain. Powered past its Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and driven by Andy Green, Bloodhound SSC reached a modest top speed of 210 mph (378 kph) on this curt runway.
Y'all'll find a YouTube video of the Newquay trial runs here:
https://www.youtube.com/scout?v=yuCe_I7owP8
The trials at Newquay demonstrated the satisfactory operation of vehicle systems and provided conviction for further development and testing. In 2018, Bloodhound SSC remained in the UK, just no farther trial runs were fabricated.
In fifteen October 2018, Bloodhound Programme Ltd., the U.k. company backside the Bloodhound SSC, entered into "administration," which is comparable to a Chapter eleven filing in the Us and is intended to give a company in financial difficulties protection from creditors for a limited menstruum while it attempts to reorganize and seek new financing. Bloodhound Programme Ltd. was seeking well-nigh $33 meg (almost £25 million) to fund the plan through the bodily land speed tape attempts in South Africa in 2020 – 2021.
On 7 Dec 2018, BBC News reported that the attempts to reorganize had failed. Joint ambassador Andrew Sheridan reported, "Despite overwhelming public support, and engagement with a wide range of potential and credible investors, information technology has not been possible to secure a purchaser for the business and assets." You can read the BBC report here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-46480342
Plans are being implemented to render or sell assets. Driver Andy Greenish said the Bloodhound SSC vehicle was now available for sale at a price of about £250,000 ($318,275).
Allow's promise that the Bloodhound SSC project tin find a terminal minute investor and a route to recovery.
North American Eagle – Continuing to make progress in 2018
Ed Shadle and Keith Zanghi started the North American Hawkeye LSR project twenty years ago, in 1998. Their thought was to take a surplus Lockheed F-104 jet fighter fuselage with a General Electric J-79 jet engine and afterburning and create a viable absolute LSR challenger. The event of their efforts, with aid from a team of volunteers and back up from many sponsors, is the Due north American Eagle LSR vehicle shown below.
The North American Eagle team website is here:
https://world wide web.landspeed.com
You can view a YouTube video on the North American Eagle LSR program here:
Here's a shorter video of the September 2016 speed run in the Alvord Desert in Oregon. During this run, commuter Jessi Combs accomplished a maximum speed of 477.59 mph (768.threescore kph):
The North American Eagle team website reports: "To date, we have made over 57 exam runs, already attaining a top speed of 515 mph. This is but the beginning though. In September 2018, with Jessi Combs at the captain, she made a 483.227 mph (run). In 2019 she will effort (to exceed) the 512 mph Fastest Woman record, as well every bit the unmarried engine speed record. Both of these are major milestones on the route to 800 mph."
Founder Ed Shadle died on vii September 2018. Jessi Combs is now the primary driver and the squad is expecting to go on its LSR program in 2019.
iii. Category A LSR contenders in 2018
At the beginning of 2018, the FIA state speed tape for cycle-driven, piston-powered vehicles was held by Speed Demon, which set the record on 17 September 2012:
- 439.024 mph (706.540 kph) for the measured mile, and
- 439.562 mph (707.408) kph for the measured kilometer
The FIA record for bicycle-driven, turbine-powered vehicles was held by Turbinator, which set the tape on 18 October 2001:
- 458.444 mph (737.794 kph) for the measured mile, and
- 458.196 mph (737.395 kph) for the measured kilometer
2018 was an exciting twelvemonth in Category A, with the ii principal Category A LSR contenders, Challenger 2 and Turbinator Two, raising their respective speed records for wheel-driven vehicles and Turbinator II making the first unofficial Category A ane-mode run at > 500 mph (805 kph). 5 different LSR vehicles made runs at > 400 mph (644 kph) during the SCTA Bonneville Speed Week, which was held from 11 – 17 Baronial 2018:
- Challenger 2
- Turbinator II
- Speed Demon
- Flashpoint
- Carbiliner
At the rain foreshortened Bonneville World Finals held on 2 Oct 2018, the following three LSR vehicles fabricated runs at > 400 mph (644 kph):
- Turbinator II
- Speed Demon
- Eddie's Chop Shop streamliner
Following is a brief review of these Category A LSR programs.
You'll discover the complete results from Speed Week 2018, World Finals 2018 and other SCTA events on their website:
http://www.scta-bni.org/home.html
Challenger two – Raised the cycle-driven, piston engine LSR in 2018
On 9 September 1960, Mickey Thompson, driving the four-engine, bicycle-driven Challenger ane streamliner, accomplished a one-way speed of 406.60 mph (654.36 kph) in the flying mile on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Unfortunately, Challenger 1 was was unable to make the 2d run required past the FIA for an official land speed record. Thus, the existing absolute and Category A LSRs set up on sixteen September 1947 by John Cobb driving the Railton Mobile Limited connected to stand at 394.nineteen mph (634.39 kph) for the measured mile and 394.196 mph (643.196 kph) for the measured kilometer.
Cobb'south absolute LSR was eclipsed on v August 1963 past Craig Breedlove, driving the turbojet-powered (Category C, not bicycle-driven) Spirit of America to a speed of 407.447 mph (655.722 kph) in the measured mile on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The following year, Cobb's wheel-driven LSR was further eroded on 17 July 1964 when Donald Campbell set a Category A record of 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h) in the measured mile in the wheel-driven, Proteus gas turbine-powered Bluebird CN7 on the dry salt bed at Lake Eyre, Australia.
Cobb's cycle-driven, piston engine LSR tape and Campbell's wheel-driven LSR both vicious on 12 November 1965 when Bob Summers drove the four-engine Goldenrod LSR car to 409.277 mph (658.526 kph) in the measured mile on the Bonneville Table salt Flats. Past then, several turbojet-powered Category C LSR vehicles and had raised the absolute LSR to more than than 555 mph (893 kph).
In an endeavor to regain the Category A LSR crown, Mickey Thompson built the profoundly improved Challenger 2 for a planned LSR claiming in 1968. The unblown (not supercharged), two-engine Challenger 2 ran at the Bonneville Table salt Flats in 1968 with trial speeds approaching 400 mph (644 kph), but rain prevented an LSR run that year. Post-obit the loss of key LSR sponsors in 1969, Mickey Thompson mothballed the Challenger 2 for almost ii decades.
Mickey Thompson and son Danny removed Challenger two from storage in January 1988 and adult plans for a 1989 LSR challenge. These plans were cancelled following the tragic murder of Mickey Thompson and his wife in March 1988. Once again, Challenger ii was placed in long-term storage. In 2010, Danny Thompson began efforts to prepare Challenger 2 for an LSR run intended to "vindicate his father's faith in the streamliner." The modernized Challenger 2 retained the original chassis and hand-formed aluminum pare, resulting in an virtually unchanged external appearance. The original engines and drive trains were removed and replaced by more than powerful dry cake, nitromethane-fueled, unblown Hemi V8 engines in an all-wheel bulldoze configuration. Other modifications were made to comply with current FIA and SCTA regulations for LSR attempts. Y'all'll find details on the updated Challenger two on the Thompson LSR website here:
http://thompsonlsr.com/nigh/
Challenger ii exam runs started in June 2014 and speed runs on Bonneville'due south total-length form began in September 2014.
On 12 August 2018, during Bonneville Speed Week and 50 years after its original runs at Bonneville, Challenger 2 driven past Danny Thompson set up a new grade record of 448.757 mph (772.204 kph) for the measured mile, breaking the record held by Speed Demon since September 2012. This record currently stands equally the fastest overall cycle-driven, piston-powered land speed record. You tin view a YouTube video on the Challenger racing team and the 2018 LSR run hither:
The Challenger 2 is now retired. Give thanks you Danny Thompson for resurrecting this amazing car and mounting a successful LSR claiming. Your Dad, Mickey Thompson, would exist very proud of you and your team.
Turbinator II – Raised the bicycle-driven vehicle LSR record in 2018
Team Vesco has been a long-time contender in land speed record racing. You'll detect a history of and their many projects and LSR challenges on the team website here:
http://www.teamvesco.com/home.html
Team Vesco introduced the original Turbinator to the public in 1996 with the goals of setting a new wheel-driven LSR and becoming the get-go bike-driven vehicle to exceed 500 mph. Turbinator was powered by a single, stock 3,750 hp Lycoming T55 gas turbine engine (a former turboshaft helicopter engine) delivering power to a four-cycle drive system. On 18 Oct 2001, the Turbinator, driven by Don Vesco, eclipsed Donald Campbell'southward 37-year old land speed record, raising the FIA Category A LSR to 458.440 mph (737.788 kph).
A 2011 paper in the University of Leicester (UK) Journal of Physics Special Topics, by Back, Dark-brown, Hall and Turner, estimated the top speeds of the Turbinator to be 486 mph (782 kph) and its follow-on, the Turbinator Two with a iv,400 hp engine, to be 509 mph (819 kph). Yous can read this paper hither:
https://journals.le.ac.great britain/ojs1/index.php/pst/commodity/view/1995/1897
Turbinator II is an update of the original Turbinator, using an uprated Lycoming gas turbine delivering somewhere between 4,300 – 5,000 hp power to all 4 wheels. You can encounter what a loftier speed run in Turbinator 2 looks like in the following video made on 13 August 2018 when driver Dave Spangler raised the fastest mile speed to 463.038 mph (745.187 kph) during Bonneville Speed Calendar week.
Just 6 weeks afterwards Danny Thompson raised the LSR for wheel-driven, piston-engine vehicles to 448.757 mph (772.204 kph) with Challenger 2, Squad Vesco raised the cycle-driven vehicle National course tape to 482.646 mph (776.743 kph) on 15 September 2018 with Dave Spangler driving Turbinator Ii at the Bonneville World of Speed time trials hosted by the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA).
Read more about this Turbinator II LSR record for bike-driven vehicles at:
https://autoweek.com/article/racing/team-vesco-eclipses-cycle-driven-state-speed-record-482-mph-run-bonneville#ixzz5Z9hfMeon
At the Bonneville World Finals on 2 October 2018, Turbinator Two fabricated a one-way run through the measured mile of 493.996 mph (795.009 kph), with an get out speed of 503.332 mph (810.034 kph). Turbinator Two became the earth'southward first wheel-driven vehicle to exceed 500 mph and 800 kph. Weather precluded making the 2nd run needed for an official record. You can view this speed run here:
With standing improvements being fabricated to the vehicle, Turbinator 2 appears to be a good candidate for being the starting time LSR vehicle to set an FIA land speed record at > 500 mph.
Speed Demon
On 17 September 2012, Speed Demon, driven by George Poteet at Bonneville, established an FIA Category A land speed record of 439.024 mph (706.540 kph) for the measured mile and 439.562 mph (707.408 kph) for the measured kilometer. For this record run, Speed Demon was powered by a turbocharged, two,200 hp, 368 cubic inch minor block Chevy engine driving the rear wheels. This record stood until 12 August 2018 when it was eclipsed past Danny Thompson in the Challenger 2.
The original Speed Demon was destroyed on 12 September 2014 after a crash at 375 mph (606 kph) during a speed run at Bonneville, mayhap due to a temporary loss of traction on the salt track. You can read a synopsis of George Poteet'due south recollection of this crash here:
https://world wide web.good-guys.com/hotnews/george-poteet-recalls-375mph-bonneville-crash/
In an all-new Speed Demon Ii, George Poteet returned to land speed racing in 2016. The new Speed Demon is powered by a single, twin-turbocharged, minor-cake V8 engine delivering over 2,600 hp to the rear wheels. You'll notice details on Speed Demon's V8 piston engine here:
http://blog.diamondracing.internet/within-team-speed-demons-400mph-ls-engine
In its current incarnation, Speed Demon is a strong LSR challenger that appears to have the potential to exceed 500 mph.
- During Bonneville Speed Week in August 2018, Speed Demon made three runs at > 400 mph, with the fastest being 452.255 mph.
- During the foreshortened Bonneville World Finals in October 2018, Speed Demon made i run at 431.435 mph.
You'll detect more information on the Speed Demon team homepage here:
http://speeddemon.united states
Flashpoint Streamliner
Flashpoint streamliner fabricated its debut on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2013. It is powered by a 482 cubic inch, nitromethane burning blown Hemi V8. In its 2013 debut, the streamliner achieved a superlative speed of 395 mph (636 kph). The squad has announced a goal of exceeding 500 mph (805 kph).
The Flashpoint team homepage is at the following Facebook site:
https://world wide web.facebook.com/Flashpoint7800/
On 16 September 2018, during the USFRA World of Speed at Bonneville, the Flashpoint Streamliner achieved a speed of 436.308 mph (702.170 kph) on its first run of the 5-mile long course, with an exit speed of 451.197 mph (726.131 kph). On the 2nd run, a tire failed at 427 mph (687 kph), causing a spectacular rollover crash. Fortunately (and incredibly), driver Robert Dalton was uninjured.
You can read more than about the crash at the following link:
http://www.thedrive.com/news/23726/heres-what-a-427-mph-crash-on-the-bonneville-salt-flats-looks-like
Hopefully, the Flashpoint team will rebuild and we'll encounter the adjacent iteration of the potent Flashpoint Streamliner dorsum in activeness in the future.
Carbinite LSR streamliner (Carbiliner)
The Carbiliner was designed and built over a seven-year period and fabricated its showtime advent at the Bonneville Speed Week in 2016. It is a radically designed Category A streamliner, similar in design to successful Category C jet- and rocket-powered LSR vehicles from the early 1970s. The Carbininte LSR team notes:
"Past efforts and electric current mindset in building Streamliners has focused on keeping the motorcar aerodynamically neutral (no lift or downforce). This necessitates the addition of significant amounts of ballast to obtain enough traction for acceleration, resulting in two problems:
- The racing surface at Bonneville is not as apartment as it once was due to deterioration of the salt. This causes the motorcar to skip across the common salt at higher speeds, breaking traction.
- The increased weight of the cars leads to slower dispatch. Cars may run out of track prior to reaching maximum speed.
The Carbinite LSR Streamliner pattern has addressed these problems."
On means is through the apply of active aerodynamic control surfaces on the rear wings (NACA 66-018 profile) that support the rear wheels and house the drive shafts. The control surfaces are designed to generate over 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of downforce with minimum drag. At low speed, the aerodynamic control surfaces are "full-up" at the start of acceleration. As speed increases, the flaps are lowered to maintain the same amount of downforce. The flaps, speed-based heave control and fuel injection are managed past a Holley engine control unit of measurement (ECU).
The Carbiliner is powered by a single, twin-turbocharged, 540 cubic inch Chevy V8 burning methanol (starting in 2017) and delivering two,400 – ii,800 hp to the the unsprung (no intermission) rear wheels. You'll find a good technical description of the vehicle here:
http://blog.diamondracing.internet/within-team-carbinites-streamliner-and-the-quest-for-a-400mph-tape
The team's main goal is "to intermission the 500 mph barrier at the next Bonneville Speed Week and go the fastest cycle driven automobile on the planet". In 2018, it was one of 5 LSR vehicles to exceed 400 mph during Speed Calendar week, making runs of 406.750 mph (654.601 kph) and 413.542 mph (665.531 kph). The team has piece of work to do, but this radical LSR may accept the potential to accomplish their primary goal.
You'll find more than data on the Carbinite LSR team home page is here:
https://world wide web.carbinitelsr.com
Like the Bloodhound SSC project, the Carbinite LSR squad has established an pedagogy programme "to excite the adjacent generation of students about careers in Stalk, and to inspire students to call up big! Our program is geared for loftier school physics and store students, likewise every bit college engineering students." Yous'll find a good video describing the Carbiliner's aerodynamics and the Stalk instruction programme hither:
Eddie's Chop Store streamliner
Ed Umland, of Orangevale, CA, reportedly built his 29-foot blown gas, aluminum bodied streamliner in eighteen months with the goal of being able to exceed 400 mph at Bonneville. The streamliner is powered past a single, twin-turbo, 439 cubic inch V8 engine driving the rear wheels.
On ii October 2018, during the foreshortened Bonneville World Finals, this streamliner achieved a speed of 403.996 mph (650.169 kph) in the measured mile, with an exit speed of 411.209 mph (661.777 kph). Ed Umland has achieved his original goal, and his streamliner appears to take the potential to achieve higher speeds in the future.
You tin view a short YouTube video of the Eddie's Chop Shop streamliner running at Bonneville here.
More than information is available on the Eddie's Chop Store Facebook page here:
https://world wide web.facebook.com/Eddies-Chop-Store-166750176726708/
4. In conclusion
The upper echelon of land speed racing is live and well, in spite of the likely demise of the Category C Bloodhound SSC programme. There is great competition among the Category A wheel-driven LSR contenders in the 400 – 500 mph range, with records existence raised in 2018 and the 500 mph and 800 kph "barriers" being broken for the first fourth dimension. Next twelvemonth should be pretty interesting, peculiarly if the salt flats are in good condition.
I hope the Bloodhound SSC program volition get a last-minute (last second) reprieve and, as in the 1975 pictureMonty Python and the Holy Grail, be able to say, "I'k not dead yet."
25 December 2018 Christmas Twenty-four hour period Update: Yes, Virginia, in that location is a Santa Claus.
On Mon 17th Dec, the Bloodhound Project announced that its business and assets were bought by Yorkshire-based entrepreneur Ian Warhurst, who stated: "I am delighted to take been able to safeguard the business and assets, preventing the project breakup. I know how important information technology is to inspire young people about scientific discipline, engineering science, engineering science and math, and I desire to ensure BLOODHOUND can continue doing that into the future."
Thank you Ian Warhurst for your Christmas gift to the Bloodhound Team and the land speed racing customs.
Source: https://lynceans.org/tag/land-speed-record/
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