Barbie McSean reports on the day that Press, Sponsors and Mach 1 Club Gold members were invited to hear about the plans for high speed testing in Jordan.
| Date: | 24 April 1997 |
| Location: | P8 Shed, DRA Farnborough |
| Time: | 10.00 |
| Occasion: | ThrustSSC Press Day |
The ThrustSSC Project Team weren't the only people up early in Farnborough on Thursday 24 April 1997. Members of the Mach 1 Club were also wide awake in the early hours. The day had been designated Press Day in anticipation of the Team's imminent departure for Jordan 2. Over 200 Gold Card members, Sponsors and members of the Press were expected at DRA South Gate at 10.00am and somehow they all had to be registered and escorted to P8.R Shed. Once again this responsibilty was taken on by the Mach 1 Club.
But all this is jumping the gun a little. As you will have already read in Jeremy Davey's lead article, most of the team were at Farnborough by 6.00am in preparation for the arrival of the Big Breakfast TV crew from Channel 4. The car had to be moved out of P8.R Shed and the world's largest inflatable hangar, manufactured by Airshelta, had to be erected. The Merlo, the Supacats, the ThrustSSC trailer and the Jaguar Firechase all had to be polished and put in position. World Champion Simon Baker and Pegasus Aviation brought one of their microlights. In a new sponsorship deal Simon will fly one of these craft over the desert in Jordan scanning for the Bedouin, who apparently use the desert as a short cut to Saudi Arabia. Inside P8 Shed the audio equipment was being set up, Dee Campbell-Coombe, Ninetta Hearn and their helpers were busy as usual in the kitchen making refreshments for the day.
The guests started to arrive at the South car park well before 9.30am for the 10.00am transfer by coach to the hangar. Some Gold Card members had been up even earlier than members of the Team - at least one chap had left Newcastle at 4.30am that morning and would be driving back that night - that's dedication, but as followers of the ThrustSSC Project we know all about that anyway, don't we?
Once everyone had arrived, the important task of the day began. Both Richard Noble
and Andy Green made presentations and everyone had an opportunity to ask questions -
it wasn't just the Press up there at the front!
After these talks, Raymond Baxter was
introduced. He was there to interview the main team members. It came as a shock to some
of us to discover that some of the Mach 1 Club members were too young to remember Raymond
from the days when he used to present Tomorrow's World! As well as interviewing many of
the ThrustSSC team members, it was also planned that he would interview three Mach 1 Club
members - Robin Richardson, Allan Read and myself - to find out what is is about the
Project we find so interesting. However, time was pressing on - ThrustSSC was being
moved on to runway Two-Five and Raymond was escorted to the vantage point by Steve Georgii
who had set up the PA system. Whilst the interviews were being carried out our guests were
able to go out and view the car and equipment as well as spend more money at the merchandise
counter.
Another important guest was Norman Ireland, chairman of BTR plc. BTR, which is Britain's largest engineering group, joined the Project in March 1997 as main sponsors. Several subsidiaries are already involved - Dunlop Aviation are manufacturers of the ThrustSSC high speed wheels and brakes, and Hawker Batteries are supplying batteries to the project.
A little after 2.00pm, we were all transferred by coach to another part of the airfield so that we could watch Andy Green drive ThrustSSC down runway Two-Five. By now a considerable headwind had got up, which although making it good news for the car - it allows for more air to be pushed through the engines - did make it quite chilly standing around.
From the distance we watched as the car manoeuvred out on to the runway, all the time listening to Raymond Baxter's informative commentary. Then the engine note started to rise and ThrustSSC was away - risk blinking and you would miss the car moving past you. Within a fraction of a second the parachute was deployed successfully and Andy was applying the brakes to stop the car. It was a successful run, with the car reaching an indicated air speed of 180mph. We were no longer ThrustSSC virgins - we now belong to that elite group of people who have seen the car run.
Some people, especially the Press who had deadlines to meet, were keen to leave immediately and the coaches transferred all but a handful back to the car park. In the meantime, Andy Green arrived to be interviewed by Raymond Baxter and he faced a barrage of questions from those of us still there. Eventually one of the coaches returned and we were all transferred back to the car park. What was really nice was that Andy also used the coach to get back to P8 Shed and he sat amongst Gold Card members and Sponsors answering yet more questions.
Now that all the guests had gone, the Project Team and Mach 1 Club team members set about collecting up the fetchers, dismantling the audio equipment and tidying up the hangar. The Airshelta also had to be deflated and rolled up ready for Jordan. This gave us all a little light relief as it is rather like trying to get all the air out of bouncy castle - we even invented a new variation of the Mexican Wave, the Mexican Squash!
Although it had been a very long day, it had been very successful. Over two hundred Mach 1 Club members, Sponsors and Members of the Press had seen the car run. Sally Noble and her team had taken over £2800 on the merchandise counter, a valuable financial contribution to the project, and importantly, the Team had shown the Sponsors that their money and products had been put to very good use. Just think, if you had been a Gold Card Member you could have been there too!
As always, we are more than happy to publish Mach 1 Club members articles on or related to Thrust SSC. Please send your articles to mach.one.club@battlement.digital.co.uk
 |
 |
 |
||
| Sponsored by | This site best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 | |||
 |
 |
 |
||