On this day the THRUSTSSC supersonic land speed record car made its first low speed run on the Jafr desert Jordan. The first run had been delayed due to work needed to complete the course preparation which required the removal of stones over the 170 track mile course system and to rectify a fuel system fault with new parts supplied by Flight Refuelling.
The first planned run required Andy Green the driver to accelerate the car gently to 120mph then decelerate with engines at idle for 5 secs and then to accelerate to 220mph and decelerate again. These decelerations are need to calculate the overall drag of the vehicle on the Jafr desert of which the wheel drag is a substantial component.
Starting at 3.45pm in near sundown conditions ThrustSSC accelerated cleanly and with the first deceleration it became clear that the surface is harder than planned, which will allow faster acceleration, but may limit maximum safety speed (the speed at which the car may be safely run on the desert and still stop within the available geography).
At 230 mph ThrustSSC flew for 50ft where it hit the recently filled local sunken road. Work is now underway on refilling the track to eliminate the bump. ThrustSSC slowed using its triple parachute system and stopped 4.5 miles down the track. Whilst Green reported that the ride was rougher than expected all the car systems worked well with very considerable data volumes captured. The car suspension settings will now be softened and the next run is planned for Friday 15th.
An unforseen problem has arisen with the loading of ThrustSSC equipped with its desert wheels onto its special transportation trailer. Steering on the trailer access ramps is almost impossible with the desert wheels and the effort and time delays are unacceptable. Consequently the entire workshop has been transferred from the Jafr military base to a camp in the middle of the desert. A giant Aireshelta 40ft inflatable hangar has been supplied by Aireshelta Ltd arriving on the desert from Huddersfield in a record two days. Air freight was sponsored by Royal Jordanian. The project would like to express its gratitude to Mr Richard Bailey of Airshelta who made this possible.
Next run of Thrust SSC is planned for Friday Nov 15th.
ENDS
Day by day coverage and 500 page support material on the ThrustSSC project is available with quality jpeg copyright free photographs on the internet. Access http://thrustssc.digital.co.uk. Full media support service with photographic reproductions service (44)181-308-6520. Project Jordan office 009626-886141. Aireshelta Ltd Richard Bailey (44)1484-646559. Royal Jordanian Airlines PR 009626-607300.
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