15th October 1997 - London, Sterling Software's (formerly Texas Instruments Software) business development consultant, Jeremy Davey has a unique IT assignment - he is acting as Internet Team Co-ordinator for the ThrustSSC World Land Speed Record team, headed up by current World Land Speed Record holder, Richard Noble OBE.
Davey and the rest of the Internet team at the ThrustSSC project have produced over 500 pages of material for the Web site, which has seen well over one million hits. They have used a variety of authoring tools to produce this increasingly popular site, including Sterling Software's COOL:Gen (formerly Composer). As the time-keeper publish their data, an application developed using Sterling Software's COOL:Gen software tool will automatically abstract details about the run times and update the Web Pages.
"The car has now completed tie-down testing at DTEO Boscombe Down and low speed tests at the car's DRA Farnborough home where it achieved speed up to 200 mph in complete control and safety. The car has proved reliable, and the results of the these first 12 test runs are available on the Web Site that accesses the Runs Database, built in COOL:Gen. The car is now undergoing final preparation before shipping to Jordan for high speed tests. The results of these tests and the record attempts will be available to the screens within minutes of each run being completed," explained Davey.
As well as the results of ThrustSSC's test runs, the Web Site currently holds background information on the development and sponsorship of the project (including information on how to contribute). Soon to go live is a new addition, also developed in COOL:Gen - an on-line photo library. "We simply do not have the financial resources for Publicity of say a Formula One team, yet we have over 300 journalists who are registered as tracking the project. It would be a huge financial burden to furnish them all with photographs, so we have developed an on-line library of photos. The journalist can sign-on view thumbnails of the shots of interest, and then simply down load high resolution image files to their own systems," commented Davey.
ThrustSSC (Super Sonic Car) project director, Richard Noble OBE, rocketed to fame in his previous jet-engined Land Speed Record car Thrust 2, and currently holds the World Land Speed Record at 633.468mph. This attempt will be made even more interesting by the return of the former 5 times record holder Craig Breedlove whose team will be vying with Noble to be the first to break the sound barrier in a car.
The Black Rock Desert in Nevada should prove one of the most exciting sporting venues in the world; the event will surely rekindle the glory days of the Land Speed Record when the likes of Parry Thomas (Babs), Sir Henry Seagrave (Sunbeam), Sir Malcolm Campbell (Bluebird) and John Cobb (Railton Special) drove their vast, aero-engined cars at ever higher speeds before tens of thousands of admiring fans.
Richard Noble, explaining the importance of the World Wide Web pages to his team, said, "Jeremy and the ThrustSSC Internet Team have been able to fulfil a vital communications role for ThrustSSC. There are a lot of people all around the world following our progress, and a great many are backing us to be the first to break the sound barrier, and to put the record out of reach of Craig Breedlove. However, the Black Rock Desert is not best known for its communications infrastructure. This application will mean they can follow our progress on the Internet, and get full statistics even before a television crew can supply them in a live report."
If you would like further information about ThrustSSC, the Web pages produced by Jeremy Davey and the ThrustSSC Internet Team can be found on http://thrustssc.digital.co.uk.
Sterling Software is a leading provider of software and services for the applications management, systems management and federal systems markets. Sterling Software, with its headquarters in Dallas, has a worldwide installed base of more than 20,000 customer sites and has 3,300 employees in 85 offices worldwide. For more information on Sterling Software, visit the company's website at http://www.sterling.com.
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