| Date: | 15th March 1997 |
| Location: | P8 Shed, DRA Farnborough |
| Time: | 19:00 |
| Occasion: | MACH1 Club Gold Members' Buffet evening |
| Activity: | Unveiling of ThrustSSC's new paintwork |
| Aim: | To thank Gold members for their support |
Nearly 50 Gold Card Members made it to the Buffet Evening, meeting up at the Data Sciences car park for the transfer by coach to P8 Shed at DRA, Farnborough.
Security arrangements were tighter this time - we were all required to wear a pink security pass.
The occasion we were celebrating was the completion of Thrust SSC in her new livery - BASF Supersonic Black. When we arrived at P8 Shed, it was much warmer than usual (I usually wear my thermal underwear to the lecture days!!). The heating was on full blast to help the paint dry - the final painting having only been finished at 4.00am that morning. As a result the engine cowlings were not yet on the car, but the rear of the car had been put together so we were able to see what a superb colour BASF Supersonic Black really is.
We were also given the opportunity to have our photograph taken with Andy Green in front of Thrust SSC by Robin Richardson. (Sorry Robin, but after your comments about Snow White and the SIX dwarves, I couldn't resist taking this photo of "Baldilocks without the three bears"!)
After the photo session we were ushered back to the other side of the hangar where Dee Campbell-Coombe, Ninetta Hearn and Sally Noble had put together a delicious buffet. We were also privileged to be shown the final version of "Extreme Machines", produced by Pioneer Programmes, prior to its broadcast in the UK. This programme chronicles the history of the two main projects in the race to supersonic speed - Spirit of America and Thrust SSC. The British team certainly look very professional. It contains footage of Thrust SSC running at Farnborough and at the desert in Jordan, as well as Craig Breedlove's accident at a reported 675 mph.
The evening closed with the customary auction of "worthless" items to those present. This time a piece of the titanium from the rear wheel bay was being auctionned. I thought it would be ideal in the kitchen as a utensil rack, but I was under strict instructions not to spend LARGE amounts of money - the panel eventually went for £100.
Yet again, Neal Fletcher and John Lovatt had organised a super evening - thank you. It was a wonderfully relaxed evening and many seemed reluctant to leave at 10.30pm. If you wished you'd been there, remember all you have to do is upgrade your membership to Gold. Who knows you could them be one of the lucky people to see the car run later in the year.
Thanks again to Barbie for putting finger to keyboard for her report - although I don't fancy her chances of being invited to anything else after saying that about Robin!!
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
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