Two years ago, when the Mach 1 Club was launched alongside the ThrustSSC project, it was impossible to predict how things would go. Who would be interested in seeing a pile of tubing turned into a chassis? Well, quite a lot of you actually! By giving a series of presentations and Q&A sessions that turned into what was in effect an Land Speed Record seminar, we found out that not only were people interested, but that they kept on coming back. Not only that, but the experience we gained here enabled us to develop the ThrustSSC Roadshow into a going concern in its own right. Organised by Mike Hearn, the Roadshow has played to thousands of customers at Car Clubs, Museums, Professional Bodies, Sporting Events etc. Typically, we look for an audience of 200 minimum and get either a guaranteed fee from the organisers, or charge about £5 each for a ticket. After deducting expenses for hire of equipment (team members pay their own way!), all the profits go directly into feeding the cash monster that is the ThrustSSC project.

But back to the Club: keeping in touch with you all has been an undertaking in itself. Every Newsletter needs to be paid for by a sponsor since although the objective of the Club is to share information as widely as possible, it must be a net earner, not a net loser. Hard work? - you betcha! But all the hard work is worth it. In some cases when cash flow was really bad, it was money generated from the club that kept things afloat long enough for the next sponsor cheques to arrive.

But it's more than just money. This sense of involvement has been an example to others. Did you know that Benetton, Williams and McLaren all have their own supporters organisations and that much of what they are doing is following our lead - Newsletters, roadshows, factory visits, meet the drivers and designers etc. Indeed, when they launched their Club, Mclaren were using words on their PR handouts that could have been lifted straight from us. Far from being upset about this, we are delighted and we applaud the efforts made by McLaren to do something positive about giving back a part of motor racing to the fans.

For those of you who wanted to help the project out even more, we introduced Gold membership, and again, the response was magnificent. In return for a £60 investment, Gold members not only receive a certificate signed by Richard Noble, but can also take part in special events. On August Bank Holiday Monday, Gold members were invited to Farnborough to witness for themselves how the testing of ThrustSSC was progressing. You can read more about that day in "Getting Ready to Rumble" later in this issue. There are more Gold Members' events planned; if you would like to be included, then upgrade your membership as soon as you can!

We've spoken about the Internet many times before, but this really is the best way to follow things on a daily basis: please do all you can to get Internet access. Thanks to sponsor Digital Equipment Corporation and our Internet team, Jeremy Davey and Nick Chapman,we can keep you regularly informed about progress as things get even more hectic. As you will know by now, news is reported directly after each run. To give a taste of what you can expect, Jeremy Davey wrote the article "It Just Gets Better And Better" (reproduced later in this issue) which was "live" within hours of the successful run at Farnborough, together with high quality pictures taken with a digital camera lent to us by Canon (UK) Ltd. Reporting from the Jordanian desert will be even better! From the base in the pit station trailer, the team will have information on the Internet within minutes using equipment from ICL, Hughes Network Systems and Black Box Catalogues Ltd. Can you believe that Hughes even offered to move a satellite a little bit for us! As an added bonus, electronic Mach 1 Club members have their own private passworded area, where further exclusive in-depth articles are available. For further details, our Internet address is http://thrustssc.digital.co.uk

As a piece of drama it had everything - a deadline with time running out fast, changeable weather to threaten the proceedings, myriad technical problems, technicians tired after working around the clock and the star of the whole show and the object of everybody's attentions, ThrustSSC, sitting there as if to say "what's all the fuss about?" On top of all that, the drama was played out in front of an audience of dedicated enthusiasts, film crews and the reporters from the Daily Mail who had brought the reporting rights to the events leading up to the first running of the car.

The occasion was the August Bank Holiday Monday club meeting at Farnborough of Gold Card members and the intention was to run ThrustSSC for the first time. In fact, it hadn't quite been planned that way since the original intention was to have already given the car a couple of gentle passes along the runway to check out basic systems such as steering, brakes, parachutes and engine controls - pretty essential stuff when you think about it and something that Andy Green was most definitely interested in! But, as always seems to be the way, the LSR gods dictated otherwise and 130 Gold Card members turned up to be greeted with the news that what they might witness was the car's first ever run. To put that in perspective, when was the last time anybody other than those directly involved witnessed a Ferrari F1 car being completed and run for the first time?

Very generously, Data Sciences - next door to the Farnborough Main Gate - gave permission for us to use their car park and by 09:30 it was brimming with Mach 1 Club members. John Lovatt and Sue Richardson set up shop with pre prepared checklists for handing over to DRA Security and allocated coach tickets to those registered. This may seem a little over bureaucratic, but DRA Security insist on visitors being escorted, so our close control of these details lets them know that we are as professional as we can be in every area, not just the technology. Those in the queue were treated to the sight of Mike Hearn arriving in the Jaguar Firechase car. He even took a couple of trips around the roundabout just to check the handling. Either that or he missed the turning.

Quite what the first coach load felt when they arrived in Q Shed to be confronted with an engine still being fitted is open to question, but it seems that you are a pretty sophisticated and informed lot by now, and know that this is the way with record breaking. As we keep saying, if it was that easy, everybody would be doing it!

As expected, things didn't quite work out according to plan, largely driven by a hydraulics problems that put everything else behind schedule. We were really impressed by the patience of club members and by providing hourly updates on what was being done and what had been completed, we quickly got a sense that everybody was enjoying being part of the drama. The runway was due to be closed to us at 18:00 - would we make it? Would the sunny weather in the morning hold out, or would the promised rainstorms arrive?

The rain did arrive - just as I was giving one of my updates - and about 20 seconds before I was about to say "we've just had a bad weather warning." Knowing looks and pointed fingers showed up my complete lack of timing, since a quick glimpse over my shoulder through the open hangar doors revealed rain arriving by the bucket load.

Thankfully, we'd planned for delays and Mike Hearn took people though the capabilities of the Jaguar XJR firechase vehicle a car that even fully loaded with foam tank, hoses, cutting gear and jacking equipment will still move at 130 mph+ thanks to its supercharged straight six engine - sounds good too! Moving right on, the 6 wheel drive Supacat utility vehicles were given the once over by Mike. They look like something from a sci-fi film set, but apart from being used to tow all manner of things - including SSC itself - the one Mike demonstrated was also fitted with a fuel tank to be used for dispensing jet fuel to a thirsty SSC at the end of each run. Needless to say, children of all ages wanted to sit on it.

Looking around at the race against time and the weather, the old hands from Thrust 2 recalled a saying from those days that is just as appropriate now. "Give me more time and I'll get the job done quicker!" But time can't be beaten and as it ticked by, many wondered if the car would make it out onto the runway at all. Richard had negotiated an extension for runway use and happily the weather had also brightened up, so the sense of expectation suddenly heightened when it was announced that it was now or never, and the start team locked themselves away with Andy green for a pre run briefing.

But the LSR gods hadn't finished with us yet. Until now, the car had been pushed out of the hangar without its nose, but with the back wheels loaded onto its specially developed dolley which in turn was connected to a Merlo forklift to push it out, it became obvious that the gentle dip in the apron outside the hangar meant that SSC was going nowhere without damaging its nose. Hasty work with sheets of plywood to bridge the dip, did the job even if it didn't look pretty. With 20/20 hindsight, the obvious thing to do would have been to pull it back into the hangar, spin it around and take it out backwards.

With time running out fast, it was back onto the coaches for a shuttle trip along the perimeter road to the viewing area alongside the control tower allocated to us. Why not walk alongside SSC as it was towed backwards towards the end of the runway? Because this is an active airfield and air traffic control rules apply to everybody and everything in the 'active` area of the airfield, that's why. Nothing or nobody moves without permission.

Keeping everybody under control in the control tower was Andy Green's partner Jayne Millington, who apart from being a qualified navigator is also a very accomplished military air traffic controller. What this meant was that the Thrust crew could use their own set of frequencies and communication standards which Jayne then translated into official 'controller speak' and vice-versa. Dealing with a professional was yet another indication to the Farnborough people of the seriousness with which the team approached their task and made them feel comfortable about extending runway time yet again.

I don't know what other people felt standing there, but for me this was the moment I'd been waiting for as the culmination of two and a half years work. Even with the engine covers off and minus paint and tailfin, SSC looked so good, so brutal, so powerful, sitting there on the end of the runway with the starter unit connected and the emergency crews in place.

Was I jealous of Andy sitting in the cockpit - you bet! Suddenly the moment was on us and with a plume of smoke trailing from the left hand engine, the igniters were hit and the engine started - almost. Yet again, failing hydraulic pressure was the culprit so an external source was quickly looked up to recharge the system.

This time, the start sequence went perfectly and almost before we knew it, there it was, both engines lit and ready to rumble. I couldn't resist removing the ear defenders for a while and just letting the sound and vibration wash over me. This is one horny machine! As the systems were checked out one by one, a problem that had surfaced earlier in the dayand caused much of the delay chose is moment to make a reappearance. A seal in the main connector from the fuel system into the right engine was playing up again and what started as a few spots of fuel onto the runway became a slow but steady trickle. With only a couple of minutes to blast off, the easy thing would have been to ignore it and hope for the best, but that simply can't be done. Despite the tremendous disappointment it would cause, the only sensible and professional action was to abort the run there and then. The groans from the crowd almost drowned out the whines from the Speys spooling slowly down - so near and yet so far!

So that was it. Richard quickly explained what had happened and in the failing light it was off home for the Mach 1 Club members, sponsors and press and back into the hangar for ThrustSSC. Was it worth it? We hope so. Do people have yet another insight into just how tough and demanding record breaking can be? Definitely. Some may describe it as romantic and sophisticated, but those who were there know differently.

Earlier in the day, the Daily Mail reporter expressed surprise that Ron Ayers arrived in a Renault 21 rather than something more exotic. "Do any team members drive anything more exciting:" the reporter asked. "What you have to remember," answered Ron, "is that I'm an aerodynamicist not a fast car fan, and what we are doing is more akin to developing an aircraft than a car." At the end of the day, that's what it takes to break the Sound Barrier on land and that's why there will be many more obstacles on the road to success. August Bank Holiday Monday 1996 was just the beginning.

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