Thrust SSC

Thrust SSC is the most powerful, most extraordinary car ever to be designed to attack the Land Speed Record, and as the SSC (Super Sonic Car) in the name indicates, it is also one of the first with genuine potential to breach the Sound Barrier.

It is the brainchild of Richard Noble, holder of the present Land Speed Record at 633.468mph (1019.44kph), and was born in 1993. Noble's hopes for his Atlantic Sprinter transatlantic boat project had just died when pledged funding failed to materialise; at the same time he began to hear whispers that McLaren was interested in attacking his record.

'I got a phone call from the McLaren people, asking for Land Speed Record film footage. I knew instantly what that meant! We deliberately didn't do anything about it, to wait and see just what they would do, and sure enough they came back again. So I put them in touch with the people who hold the rights to the Thrust film.

And I thought, "Hell, if they're going to do something like this it's probably going to be a very big and expensive projecL In which case they will effectively buy the Land Speed Record." And I didn't think that they should... At least, not without a damn great struggle!'

Two key elements set the project on the road. Entirely by chance, in 1993 Noble met Ron Ayers, an aerodynamicist who had formerly worked designing Bloodhound missiles for the British Aircraft Corporation. And after Noble had given an after dinner speech on his success with Thrust 2, Castro made an unexpected suggestion that it would be interested in helping should he ever decide to have another go at the record.

From that starting point Noble and Ayers pushed forward with aerodynamic studies, acutely aware of the need to understand fully the airflow around - and most crucially, under - the car at supersonic speeds. Initially they harnessed the power of highly complex Cray computers to conduct computational fluid dynamic assessments of the aerodynamic qualities of their proposed model.

Later, in a leap of lateral thinking, Noble enrolled the Proof and Experimental Establishment at Pendine, so that a scale model could run at real speeds of 850mph (1368kph) on a rocket propelled sled. From these experiments two sets of aerodynamic figures were thus obtained by completely different means, and when each was found to endorse the other, the project really began to gather momentum.

'It was really quite extraordinary that the figures matched so precisely,' Noble said. 'It was quite remarkable. And that meant that from that point on we knew exactly what happens to airflow underneath the car.

Breaking the Sound Barrier requires not only impeccable aerodynamics, but sufficient power. Where Thrust 2 used a 17,000 pound thrust Rolls-Royce Avon 302 engine from a Lightning fighter, Thrust SSC is the first car to use not one but two turbojets. These will initially be Rolls-Royce Spey 202s from the Phantom fighter, each producing 20,000 pounds of thrust. Noble acquired two of them, but also has two even more powerful 205 units (25,OOOlb of thrust) for use when Thrust SSC has proved itself in transonic testing. Thrust SSC thus has the power of 1000 Ford Escorts, or 145 Formula One cars...

It will weigh 7.5 tonnes, and initial performance estimates suggest it will accelerate from standstill to 100mph (l6lkph) in four seconds or 0-600mph (lOOOkph) in 16 seconds. Within five miles (8 km) it will then reach its maximum speed within half a minute.

What will that maximum be? Again, estimates suggest a potential in excess of 850mph (1368kph), or Mach 1.1. This should be more than sufficient to take it through the Sound Barrier, which is calculated at 747mph (l2O2kph) at ground level on the intended site, the familiar Black Rock Desert in Nevada, where Noble and Thrust 2 set their record in October 1993.

Traditional construction methods are being employed by the G Force company in Fontwell on the southern coast of England, which is currently building the massive 54 foot (16.45m) long tubular steel spaceframe chassis, while carbon composite panels will be used.

Thrust SSC has a pencil-slim fuselage, with the two massive engines slung either side of the cockpit. This allows the centre of gravity to be concentrated far forward. The centre of pressure at which the aerodynamic forces act is well behind the centre of gravity which gives the car the stability of an arrow in flight. At speeds of 850mph (1368kph) such dynamic poise is essential, as lift of less than one degree at the lance-shaped nose could be sufficient to flip the car on its back with catastrophic results.

This remarkable layout of engines and chassis has necessitated a radical solution for the steering, for Thrust SSC's front wheels cannot turn within the engine nacelles. Instead, the rear wheels are mounted in tandem, and will steer the vehicle. Tests have been conducted so far on a specially converted road car with very encouraging results.

Like Thrust 2, SSC will also use solid aluminium wheels currently under development by Dunlop, and Castrol will be providing the crucial technology to allow them to rotate at very high speeds in excess of 8OOOrpm on SKF Carbide bearings within a comfortable safety margin.

Thrust SSC is scheduled for completion in January 1996 and after preliminary trials on Dunlop rubber tyres in the UK it will be taken to a desert site for high speed trials. The primary aim is to safeguard Thrust 2's record, which has been under attack recently by the Australian Rosco McGlashan, whose 'Aussie Invader II' uses a Mirage fighter turbojet engine. On Australia's Lake Gairdner, McGlashan has so far reached speeds of more than 500mph (8O5kph).

In 1996 Thrust SSC will attempt to penetrate the Sound Barrier on land with 32 year old RAF pilot Andy Green at the controls. Veteran U.S. speed king Craig Breedlove has completed his third 'Spirit of America - Sonic Arrow', also with a supersonic capability. Land Speed Record breaking thus stands on the threshold of the fastest, most exciting motor race in history.

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