Discovery Channel
Dear El Reg,
Please can we start referring to them as The Bloodhound Gang?
Kind Regards,
Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?
Bloodhound rocket car target of 550mph put on ice after engine overheat
The Bloodhound land speed team hit 500mph (804kmph) yesterday but had to call off today's target of 550mph (885kmph) after an engine temperature warning. The car reached 501mph (806kph) and successfully trialled the modified brake chutes. The team said there was noticeable yaw caused by a light cross-wind but the car remained …
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Friday 8th November 2019 13:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Dear AC
Travelling in a motor vehicle at 100 mph over land is useful and practical, within the limits of engineering. As for 1000 mph? Not so much.
I could only imagine those kinds of speeds being realistic in a semi-evacuated tube/tunnel arrangement like the Hyperloop concept. As such, even the data gathered during Bloodhound's 1000 mph run won't be of relevance because the aerodynamics will be completely different.
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Friday 8th November 2019 16:50 GMT anothercynic
Re: Dear AC
It's ultimately not about the speed. It's about all the fascinating technology enhancements too that this project needs. Precision-milled wheels, CFD-driven modelling and the refinement of those models, the list goes on and on... And the project fascinates kids, which drives them to engage in STEM subjects, which in turn in a decade or two drives STEM career uptake.
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Friday 8th November 2019 17:00 GMT ChrisC
Re: Dear AC
But the data gathered during the test runs *will* be of use in validating the simulation models, which in turn may then be of use in other scenarios. There's also the question of whether any of the technology might have applications in areas where similar forces/speeds are present - e.g. does the work that's gone into designing the Bloodhound wheels provide us with any new data that might be useful when designing high-RPM flywheels for energy storage?
I honestly don't know the answer to that or any other similar "what if/does this" questions that could be asked of other aspects of the Bloodhound project, but I'd be amazed if, once it's all done and dusted, it hasn't generated even a single piece of knowledge/data that can be put to good use somewhere else. And, even if it genuinely doesn't generate anything of tangible value at the end, it has acted as something of a useful catalyst for getting more people engaged in STEM - if it then results in even a tiny percentage uptick in the number of people choosing to follow a STEM educational and career path rather than whatever else they might have considered doing with their lives, the potential long term value of that effect is not to be sniffed at.
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Tuesday 12th November 2019 18:06 GMT Robert Helpmann??
Re: Dear AC
Once upon a time, the space race was all about two countries trying to one-up each other, nothing more. Since then, so very many technologies have grown from it, industries have been built around it and generally the world is a better place for it. This is just one example where this sort of effort has led to all sorts of unintended but useful outcomes. Plus it sure beats warfare as a driver of innovation.
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Friday 8th November 2019 14:39 GMT Len
Re: Dear AC
It's obviously arbitrary. If they had used a different measurement system (furlongs per fortnight?) they would have chosen a different speed target.
If you read it as "the team is attempting to push the car over the 1,609 km/h mark" it loses all sense. I do wonder why they chose to use English measures when this is obviously a global competition. Why not push for the 1500 km/h mark?
Actually, it makes most sense to first aim for the 1,235 km/h mark, the speed of sound. The added benefit is that you break the current record of 1,228 km/h which narrowly avoided breaking the speed of sound by only 7 km/h.
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Friday 8th November 2019 14:58 GMT Anonymous Coward
What am I missing?
Actually, it makes most sense to first aim for the 1,235 km/h mark, the speed of sound. The added benefit is that you break the current record of 1,228 km/h which narrowly avoided breaking the speed of sound by only 7 km/h.
On October 15, 1997, in a vehicle designed and built by a team led by Richard Noble, Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green became the first person to break the sound barrier in a land vehicle in compliance with Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile rules. The vehicle, called the ThrustSSC ("Super Sonic Car"), captured the record 50 years and one day after Yeager's first supersonic flight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_barrier#Breaking_the_sound_barrier_in_a_land_vehicle
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Friday 8th November 2019 15:16 GMT Essuu
Re: what's the big deal about 1000 mph?
Although it is somewhat arbitrary, it also happens to be around where the laws of physics come into play to define a theoretical maximum based on our current technologies. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)#Power for why we can't generate enough power to overcome the drag within a buildable vehicle. At least, safely. It might be possible to put a rocket on its side with some wheels but going fast is only half the equation. Staying on the ground and stopping safely is just as important !
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Friday 8th November 2019 17:09 GMT The Oncoming Scorn
Re: what's the big deal about 1000 mph?
URBAN LEGEND!
The Arizona Highway Patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.
The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was, and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.
It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) unit. JATO units are solid fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for take-off from short airfields.
Dried desert lakebeds are the location of choice for breaking the world ground vehicle speed record. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high speed, and fired off the rocket.
The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:
The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.
The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.
Most of the driver's remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.
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Tuesday 17th December 2019 00:08 GMT JCitizen
Re: what's the big deal about 1000 mph?
Andy Granitelli ran the legendary STP Indy car racing teams of the 60's and 70's. Detailed in his book about testing JATO rockets on 1940 built cars; and survived a stint of over 150 mph. Now the only reason he survived was because these were 1st generation rockets, and he was lucky most of them didn't ignite, and probably because of the old fuel in them didn't put out the power they might have as brand new.
You can believe it or not, but I read about it when I was a kid, and he even had pictures of the following chase car which had windows and head lights fused so badly by the heat, that you couldn't see out of the car anymore. He had about three rockets on the car, IIRC, and only one fired, undoubtedly saving his life.
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Friday 8th November 2019 13:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: I have a bad feeling about this project...
Thrust SSC could generate 20 tonnes of down-force to keep it on the salt. Bloodhound LSR will be doing something similar. Not so easy on water - unless you want to become the world's fastest submarine ... until the pressure causes your vessel to disassemble itself.
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Friday 8th November 2019 21:32 GMT ridley
Re: I have a bad feeling about this project...
Have a look at John Cobb's demise on YouTube like Campbell he died on water whilst attempting a record. His did the opposite if Campbell's and dived rather than flew it was all over incredibly quickly ,mercifully.
Respect to all those who push the envelope just because it is there.
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Friday 8th November 2019 17:39 GMT Dave 32
Re: I have a bad feeling about this project...
There are some serious concerns about stability, and error recovery. The recent crash of the North American Eagle, which was another vehicle set to challenge the land speed record, and the accompanying death of driver Jessi Combs, illustrates exactly how dangerous this sport can be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Eagle_Project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessi_Combs
Dave
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Friday 8th November 2019 14:38 GMT Anonymous Custard
Re: How about this idea for an additional publicity stunt?
He can even bring his own fireproof racing suit?
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Friday 8th November 2019 15:44 GMT batfink
@Baud I'm genuinely unsure whether to upvote or downvote you for this.
You deserve an upvote for making a sensible point about driver (pilot?) safety.
However you deserve a downvote for thinking it should be unmanned. Surely the point of the whole thing is putting your arse on the line to do this. Without that, it's much the same as just firing cannonballs downrange.
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Friday 8th November 2019 16:07 GMT Roger Mew
Just a thought, for it to be a vehicle the wheels have to be driven. In the 1972 I was at Lakenheath in a US service vehicle and gave a lift down the flightline to a pilot whose plain was being serviced by my hanger. He got clearance to let me run the vehicle as I went back to the PX when he was taking off. For the record in his Macdonnell Voodoo I started and at the 1/2 mile point he started. I went as fast as the vehicle could go. He passed me at 1/2 mile + 50 yds at 55o miles per hour still on the ground and took off just in front of me. There was a reason why many people were interested, This I cannot go into but does this mean that his voodoo was a car, of course not so what is the difference to the thing they are running. Many many of Lakenheaths lower ranks enjoyed the above and was discussed by many, as was my purple US forces truck!
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Monday 11th November 2019 10:22 GMT Man inna barrel
Not the real land speed record?
Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I think the last real land speed record was Bluebird (Donald Campbell, 1964, 403.1 mph), because the motive power was driven via the wheels. Ever since then, land speed record vehicles have in effect been jet or rocket aircraft that do not take off. I remember thinking at the time that Craig Breedlove's jet-driven Spirit of America was cheating.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
