Well it’s September the 30th - and we are still in the UK - but at long last momentous things are beginning to happen - the hard slog is beginning to pay and we are making serious progress. On the 23rd I was reminded of our failings when Ron Dennis of McLaren wrote - I had confidently taken his 1000 bet at 2:1 'that we would not make a record attempt this summer.' We needed his 1000 desperately at the time. Ron reminded me triumphantly that summer time ended on September 20th and could he have his 2000? The Jordanians could not add much by explaining that the Jordanian Summer ends about the same time - so other than trying to persuade Ron that we work exclusively by the Australian seasons there was no defence.

As you may recall, we failed to make the first run at Farnborough (see September Update) on August 26th. We pulled ThrustSSC off the runway for all the right reasons - but if we had managed it we would have turned a wheel just days before Breedlove who reportedly made an 85mph run at Bonneville on the 29th and then announced that he wasn't coming back until next year. The surface was too rough.

The first week of September was Farnborough Air Show - with so much work to do, we elected to work through the Show rather than put ThrustSSC on display and flog merchandise - which was, as you can imagine, a highly attractive option. What we didn’t realise was that the noise level was so appalling that we ended up spending the week wandering around in the hanger like aimless zombies. In the middle of all this I got a call from Royal Jordanian - "King Hussein would like to meet you - please be at the Royal Jordanian chalet by 10.30am." The King duly arrived surrounded by Air Marshals and VIPs, shook everyone by the hand and then sat at the top of a large table. He beckoned for me to sit next to him - and we talked face to face for the next 15 minutes - the others sat around and listened. It was quite clear that the King is very seriously interested in what we are trying to do - so I took the liberty of inviting him to the hanger to meet everyone. "We'll see!" he said - and then as if a signal had been given, everyone got up and followed him out the door to his limo.

Just after lunch and back in the hanger - there was a call from a very confused Director of the SBAC (the airshow organisers) who had been planning the King's visit with a rigid timetable to the nearest nanosecond: "Err, the King has changed his plans and he is coming over to Q Shed in 20 minutes". Never one to panic, the Thrust team were to be seen flying all over the hangar trying to make it look half tidy. The King arrived in a ten car convoy - he met everyone - saw everything there was to see while there was the most appalling noise overhead as the Eurofighter was put through its paces. The visit came to an end - the King walked to the limo, turned and said: "I'll see you in Jordan, Richard" and then was gone.

Around this time Al Harkness, Chris Cowell and the Spey team were building up the testbed development on the Spey 205 engines. They were working with the Rolls -Royce team bringing the engines up 50K in operating temperature. Despite worries and the inevitable problems - the work was completed to schedule with the two 205s now operating at considerably higher thrust levels - but the new HP turbine life had been reduced down to 10 hours total running time. So now we have achieved our engine goal and built a very strong and credible Rolls/Thrust engine team.

The big push was now to get TSSC operational. We need to get to Jordan - and we need to get TSSC running. On the 23rd September - with the ITN crew filming, we went out again. The plan was very simple - run the car to 40mph and then apply full braking (1400psi). We had the suspension and damping set at its hardest and to a cheer ThrustSSC moved off down the runway - looking a little shaky on its hard suspension. Andy applied the brakes as instructed - all four wheels locked instantaneously and the first one and then the other front tyres burst. The rears were also worn down to burst point. And to make matters worse, ThrustSSC was now blocking the main Farnborough runway - it took 2 hours to move it during which time an executive jet had to be diverted to Odiham at vast expense.

What had gone wrong? Well Glynne had designed the carbon brakes for the very worst case - a parachuteless stop on the runway from 200mph. We were also told that the brakes would only be around 50% effective until they reached 150C - a condition known at Dunlop as "morning sickness". The car was running on a hard suspension setting so the apparent unsprung weight was considerable. Andy was told to apply full brake - so that’s what he did - the pads heated instantaneously and with the huge applied pressure the brakes clamped the wheels.

Another factor which came out subsequently was that the tyres which were designed for the Lightning fighter and which went out of service 10 years ago are unused but at least 10 years old and were seriously below par on adhesion.

Meanwhile ITN were very thrilled with the piece which clearly showed two tyres bursting and put it out on the News at 10 - with a 3 min 40 second slot - the longest in ITN's long history. The item was seen by 41% of the UK viewing population and was then bought by CNN who put it out throughout the World and right throughout the US every 30 minutes for the rest of the day. The piece was also bought by Tokyo Broadcasting and by Korean Broadcasting. It was a classic example of the huge media pulling power of ThrustSSC. God knows how many billion people saw that. The Daily Mail also put out a huge central feature which was read by millions.

I couldn't be at the first run as Andrew Noble, desert man extraordinary and I were in Tunisia with our friend Mr Khaled Jellouli of the Tunisian Tourist Board. We had found the huge Chott El Derij near Tozeur on the map and Andrew had visited in June. He reported that it might be possible to achieve at least a 20 mile run on perfect surface, that Tozeur has a number of very high quality hotels and a new airport capable of taking Boeing 747's. There was only one problem - it was still wet.

This could be it - the greatest LSR site of them all - for 1997. The magic ingredient - a site which combined surface, run length, accessibility and infrastructure. We flew to Tunis overnight and then drove for five hours the next morning with Mr Jellouli in a smart Land Cruiser. Tunisia is the most beautiful country - combining the very best of Africa with the very best of France and I immediately felt at home despite my appalling French. We arrived at Tozeur surrounded by 500,000 date palms and the vast El Derij. Throughout the summer the temperatures had been around 50C. We had an excellent lunch and then set off for the Chott - and were in for a surprise - the surface seemed more sandy than we expected, and then while trying to turn the Land Cruiser, it slipped off the causeway and started to sink into bottomless mud. The surface had no bearing strength at all and had failed to dry despite the temperature. ThrustSSC would sink without trace into bottomless chocolate mousse. So 1997 plans had to be revised. Just as the team were preparing ThrustSSC for the first run at Farnborough, I was filling in time before my return flight wandering the ruins of Carthage, home of the greatest general of them all - Hannibal - another Noble hero!

So much for the two day summer holiday! Back at Farnborough things were happening fast - by the 27th ThrustSSC was up to run 9, 160 mph and max military power (non reheat). The suspension had been softened and the car was riding well. We had also flown the low speed brake parachutes - this was of particular note because we were using the last of the Thrust2 explosive stock (the tiny explosive squibs are used to fire the bullets which pull out the parachute drogues). Our new explosive stock had been delayed in the US whilst we sought import clearance - which was done quickly by the Health and Safety team in Liverpool. So in the meantime we had to use the old Thrust2 squibs. I had forgotten about the originals which had been stored for 13 years in inappropriate surroundings - but they work fine! Sadly I couldn't witness these runs as the project was starting to hit money troubles again and deals needed to be done quickly if we were to reach Jordan with any money in the bank at all.

About this time email messages started to come in from Nevada. Breedlove appeared to have abandoned Bonneville and was now applying for a special dispensation to run at Black Rock - despite the BLM having informed us that due to the concerted efforts of the five environmentalist groups, they had decided they were not going to issue any permits for 45 days whilst the matter is debated in Washington.

In the meantime there are quite a number of local people following the Black Rock Desert story and emailing us with reports.

After all this struggle it became clear that the Thrust team were about to break through into clear water - the first sign came on the 28th, when the team ran ThrustSSC three times - making it into max established afterburner for a second or so. This was very much a key run - following our failures at Boscombe Down, we need to know the lowest speed we could select max mil power without surging the engines. Andy got away to a good start and got to mil at 90mph. By 170 "max AB" was established (the afterburners have catalytic igniters and take time to light) and we saw ThrustSSC really perform for the first time. The noise is as loud as Concorde and the car leaps away with two 20ft yellow afterburner flames. Data reports show that the 9+ tonne car accelerated the last 40mph in 1 second. But there were two crucial findings:

1. First the afterburners nearly, but not quite, lit together - so Andy had differential thrust and hence yaw to deal with - he reports that all that was necessary was a slight tweak of the steering wheel.
2. I was also worried about the rear fuselage - would the immense heat and acoustic power damage the rear of the car? There was no damage.

I witnessed the run - and it’s quite clear that the car is very, very stable and that the rear wheel steering works well. Andy and the team are building up a high level of confidence and so it’s time to go to Jordan.

But we still had to complete the Boscombe tests - you can read those under Jeremy's report "Lighting Up Time". Faced with more problems I couldn't be there but I did manage to get Nick Dove on his mobile just after the first afterburner run.

"The rear fuse, Nick - what condition is it in?"

"Hang on a moment - I'll go and look"

"Not a problem, Richard - it’s hardly warm and the rivets are all in place - we haven’t got a problem."

Back at the hanger - we had no got to face facts - the project was working well - but our planning needed improvement. In the past planning the build has been almost impossible since it has been very difficult to set accurate times to any task. Whilst our ability to set times is getting better - the project is changing substantially: we are moving from car builders to car operators. And the big change is that the work becomes more repetitive and thus more predictable. We therefore have to change the structure and get a good planning man aboard. Back in the days of the supersonic testing, the operation of the Pendine Range where we ran the rocket models, was under the eagle eye of Martyn Davidson who ran the operation with precision and firm control. Martyn, an RAF explosives expert, had moved to Farnborough and subsequently masterminded the project move into Q Shed - which involved a huge army of Mach 1 Club volunteers painting and cleaning. The operation ran so smoothly that the Thrust team were able to move from GForce in a single painless operation. Whilst the RAF do not endorse, approve or support the project - there have been a number of RAF specialists who have been able to take unpaid leave of absence - at considerable cost to themselves to work on the project. This means that they are paid by Thrust direct - and may well lose service benefits whilst they are with the project. Martyn, like Andy, finds himself with accrued holiday and has joined us to provide the additional planning and facilitating function.

One of the other fascinating elements of the project is the ICL Sorbus IT PR machine. In the past I have had nothing but grief from PR companies - they seem to play very safe (which is exactly what we don't want!) and spend their time charging us for sending faxes. Most often the key skilled man is working other and better paying clients when you really need him. The whole impression is of escalating cost and disappointment.

The situation came to a head when I got a request for a full press pack and photos from a very eminent car magazine with a huge readership in Columbia. The cost of sending that lot would have been nearly 15. So it was quite clear that what we need to do is handle this with IT. Now if you go into the media pages of this Web Site you can find an application form to sign on. The bona fide journalists are then emailed and faxed by ICL Sorbus each time something happens - and they can then read the detail and use the very high quality pictures off the Web Site. To date we have 700 journalists in a number of countries following the project and the scheme is generating good international coverage - with no cost and minimal impact on the project.

So now the next stage is Jordan. Al Jafr is in the south of Jordan and seldom gets any rain. Thanks to Andrew Noble and Royal Jordanian Air Force the track is marked out and almost ready to go. When we get there we will have the Hughes satellite link established so that the Internet can be updated on a daily basis.

But first we have to get there - and where is the money coming from? Nothing changes - we just have to get out into the market place and make it - very quickly!

Next report from Jordan!

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