Thrust SSC - Supersonic Race Update

Issue 133 Lead Article - 30th June 1997

Nobody Ever Said This Was Going To Be Easy

by Richard Noble


So this is how the project stands: we have got back from Jordan with a good result. Thrust SSC is stable, fast and has the potential to do the job. The teamwork is excellent and the driver very competent. Over in the US the hotels are booked and the expectation is building - and the Spirit of America team have completed an almost total rebuild of the car - and are relaxed.

An interesting aspect of this is that the Spirit of America rebuild has been been masterminded by many of the Thrust2 team including John Ackroyd, the designer. So we now have a new dimension to the challenge - Thrust2 against ThrustSSC.

Over here, we are far from relaxed. The project is a successful but big one. The costs of travelling to the US are enormous and our finances are at a low ebb - since we put everything we had into the Jordan operation, which as you know was highly successful on a hard and uncompromisingly bumpy surface.

The budget climbs with every day and is currently at £600,000 or $980,000. The funds are coming in fast - but at present we stand at just 7% without the corporate money. Assuming the corporate funds we expect, we can expect to run at around 10%/week ($100,000/week) which is going to make the whole exercise very close run and very tough indeed. It is important to understand that this is money needed to meet costs - there is no profit in this for anyone.

This is a huge advantage to the Spirit of America team who simply load their trucks and drive for 5 hours from San Francisco.

Another huge advantage to the Spirit of America team is that at this time of the year corporate Britain tends to shut down. Corporate executives see the dead month of August ahead and seem to take less interest in making the big decisions before September.

So how do we raise over $100,000 a week? Well, first we have to balance risk - there is no point in putting all the eggs into one corporate basket. Corporate sponsorships are difficult and political deals and if all the effort goes into landing one deal - then there is a high chance of serious disappointment. No, there has to be a spreading of risk and opportunity.

So we are running the five level campaign:

So $980,000 in 8 weeks - can this really be done? Are we really serious?

The answer is simple - we have not come this far just to fail over money! All you have to do is to have a viable plan, good products and the means to implement it!

So if you would like to do your bit:
Fax John Lovatt on 01252-514068 (+44-1252-514068 from outside the United Kingdom) and ask for details of:

  1. The Mach 1 Club
  2. The Farnborough visits - we can probably fit you in with one of the car clubs.
And then just watch the ThrustSSC Web Site - we are going to tell you how we do on a daily basis.

Whoever said that record breaking was easy?



Richard Noble

The author of this article, Richard_Noble, is the ThrustSSC's Project Leader and held the World Land Speed Record from 1983 to 1997.



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