Other Speed Record Breakers Are Available!

[Renegadenemo]

I'll bet you that Bill's criteria for electric cars will be met within the next decade.

And if it is I'll happily drive one because electric motors deliver a tremendous amount of torque over a much greater RPM range than an IC engine - but for now the cars are crap so it's up to the gadget-nutters to support the technology until it comes of age.

I always liken it to the advance of steam over sail. It was a long time coming but it was also clear to see who the winner would be. I look forward to my first electric car but in the meantime I was in the Merc' shop last week and they had an electric Mercedes that was just as wholeheartedly wrong as the curry flavoured cheese I saw in the local deli earlier in the day...

[ted.walsh]

not that I am a fully engaged proponent of the technology, or the various environmental or cash cost arguments, or even that it's simply not a good plan to lock horns with Bill in a public forum but.....

http://tesla.com

seems to have a lot of the performance, engineering and charging arguments already in the bag. and while I have not actually been in one I think I would like one (X model please) instead of the Lamborghini hurricane that tried and failed to square up to it at a recent speed event I attended.....

then you'll be telling me that FPV drone racing isn't the same as flogging a JSF Raptor Lightning II round a canyon then.....

[Renegadenemo]

The quickest you can charge one is about four hours!! and then it'll only squeak about 300 miles if you're careful with it. Nor is the battery technology anything remotely special. It's just crammed full of cheap lithium-ion AAs from Panasonic minus the usual safety systems to stop them catching fire!

[rob565uk]

One of the Senior Management Team in my Company took delivery of a Tesla and promptly went out showboating around his friends and Family with it. He then returned to the Office with the car in a nearly discharged state and plugged into the charging point. So far, so good ..... Well, no actually because (a) it seems there are fast and slow charging points and we have the latter and (b) he needed the car within 30 mins to drive to a meeting some 90 miles offsite. So with tail between legs and to the accompaniment of considerable smirking and outright jeering (he's not popular) a petrol-driven hire car was obtained rapidly so he could make his meeting. Enough said I think ............


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[mtskull]

...meanwhile back on topic, it seems the 'North American Eagle' converted Starfighter lot are out on the desert this week with record intentions, though details seem limited at the minute. That thing has never sat right with me- taking the wings off an aircraft seems to be cheating somehow!

It has never sat right with me either, though not for reasons of whether it is cheating or not. I just hope that they have done their homework properly as to how a wingless aircraft will behave on the ground at the sort of speeds envisaged.
I hope for the best but I fear the worst......

On a slightly different note, am I alone in thinking that it is time for the rule requiring two runs in opposire directions to be abolished, if only for the outright LSR? At the speeds involved these days, I would have thought that in any wind conditions under which it would be safe to make an attempt, the potential for unfair advantage to be gained would be negligible.

[malcolm uk]

On a slightly different note, am I alone in thinking that it is time for the rule requiring two runs in opposire directions to be abolished, if only for the outright LSR? At the speeds involved these days, I would have thought that in any wind conditions under which it would be safe to make an attempt, the potential for unfair advantage to be gained would be negligible.

I think you will find that Ed Shadle of NAE agrees with you. From comments made, BLOODHOUND SSC personnel do not agree with you. I do not agree that the rules for the 'top class' should be changed, because then there becomes an argument for all classes to have an 'easier time'. Two directions cancels out wind and gradient. The one hour turnaround for FIA makes the design of the machine a little bit more akin to any usable wheeled vehicle. The 'fixed position' of a timed distance means you have to have equal distance on the land chosen. [A rocket car needing a week of rebuild would be a poor joke, played against all who have set outright records in the past to the (it can be argued) hundred year old rules].

The NAE team may of course be running under new governance (which they have devised) being timed by satellite positioning, we shall all watch with interest how any 'record speeds' are reported.

[malcolm uk]

That thing has never sat right with me- taking the wings off an aircraft seems to be cheating somehow!

You still have to fit wheels to the 'chassis' that the plane provides - five are used in the case of NAE and only the nose wheel is that fitted originally to the F-104. A number of British individuals thought of doing this in the sixties, only Ed has made the conversion happen.

[Renegadenemo]

You still have to fit wheels to the 'chassis' that the plane provides - five are used in the case of NAE and only the nose wheel is that fitted originally to the F-104. A number of British individuals thought of doing this in the sixties, only Ed has made the conversion happen.

Yes, but no matter how many wheels you stick to it (each one invites a host of potential failure modes on its own so five is even worse!) it's still a lightly-constructed aluminium tube with the wings lopped off that'll shred itself to shards in the event of even the most minor failure. So, with this in mind, they plan to take it where to SSC, made of chunks of old railway track and bits of Bismarck, began to consume itself due to the ridiculous loading.

Yeah - I'll be watching.

[mtskull]

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Yeah - I'll be watching.

I won't. I'll be facing the other way with my fingers crossed, my thumbs in my ears and my eyes tightly shut.

[Renegadenemo]

I think they are aiming to beat 512mph and make her the fastest woman on Earth?

There's been no shortage of female jet-jockeys that have been past 512mph and female astronauts in the quickest vehicle of all time so she must be going for fastest woman in a death-trap, perhaps?