Unusually heavy rains in Southern Jordan have resulted in rapid flooding of the Jafr desert today for the first time since 1991. The ThrustSSC team was able to decamp to the safety of the Jafr Air Base in just 6 hours as flood waters rapidly covered 3.5 miles of the precious 10 mile 17 lane track system which had taken 2000 man hours to prepare.
"We were just preparing for our next high speed runs to prove the steering mods we had made - when the storm struck - also cutting off much of southern Jordan. The rains have totalled 50% of the Jafr annual rainfall in 24 hrs. With flood waters advancing at 1 metre every five seconds, we have no idea how much track will remain tomorrow, or whether we can even get back on the desert. Our immediate objective is to continue ThrustSSC development runs on the remainder of the track." said Project Director Richard Noble.
After 16 days of car and desert preparation the first run was achieved on the 12th November with a maximum speed attained of 230mph (370kph). The fastest speed obtained to date is 331mph. Whilst the development programme of matching the very complex vehicle to the desert has been arduous - with the exception of the steering the car has become reliable and very stable. The rear wheel steering had developed a medium speed wheel shimmy (rapid oscillation) which has limited speeds to 300mph. The next run is planned to prove the changes to steering geometry and wheel damping which have just been completed.
Driven by British fighter pilot Andy Green - the 850mph (1370kph) ThrustSSC car weighs 10 tonnes and has 106,000hp making it the most powerful car ever built. The car is highly innovative featuring twin jet engines, hydraulic suspension, active computer controlled ride and rear wheel steering. The research period took 2.5 years and the subsequent build 75,000 man hours. The 28 person ThrustSSC team is operating from King Feisal Air Base at Jafr Jordan - with its operational base on the nearby Jafr desert which offers a consistently hard desert surface with a longer operational weather window than traditional US sites.
The Jafr desert is a dried lake bed sump system fed by a number of tributaries flowing from North, South and Western Jordan. The weather forecast is for higher temperatures with dry easterly winds. Depending on weather and water inflow the desert could dry quickly.
The Thrust SSC team are in competition with US and Australian teams to achieve the first ever supersonic (750mph-1210kph) World Land Speed Record.
The current World Land Speed Record is 633.468mph (1019.44kph) held by Richard Noble, project director of ThrustSSC, since Oct 4th 1983 - the second longest period in history.
ENDS
Day by day coverage and 600 page support material on the ThrustSSC project is available with 500 high quality JPEG copyright free photographs on the Internet. Access http://thrustssc.digital.co.uk (4.3 million page accesses - growth 50,000 accesses/day). Full media support service with photographic reproductions service (44)181-308-6520. Project Jordan office 009626-886141.
PLEASE NOTE. Motor Racing can be very dangerous. You attend the Thrust SSC Jafr Jordan trials only at your own personal risk.
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