Thread: JCB sets new world speed record

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Frankie what is the blue water pipe on the right hand side of the cockpit for? it looks like it weren't really designed to be there.

The fuck I'm supposed to know? I didn't build the fucker I just found some pics! looks like it could be some of that large, hard plastic air hose, or even abut an aught gague cable or more likely, a plastic wrapped cable with multiple conductor inside, digital control panel has quite few functions and I'm betting there are a quite a few computer controled engine variables.

My best guess would the latter. There will be two-way communications; driver to the pit and real-time telemetry. This may even be set up to allow the techs to tweak the performance of the machine as it's hurtling down the salt at damn-near 400 MPH. These monitoring systems can measure exhaust temp & O2 ratios, tire temp and pressures tire diameter/deformation, clutch slip, cyl. head temp, intake pressure (surely, the fuckin thing is super/turbo charged), brakes temp, the list goes on and on. They could possible set certain values such as air/fuel mixture, injector timing, clutch slip/rpm ratios and lockup.

I doubt it has a battery or need for a single conductor cable of that size and I highly doubt they have need of compressed air; if it was hydraulic or fuel it would be stainless steel wrapped HP hose, or solid steel tubing, in this application; either way, I think there's a rule or two about running these type things in the cockpit.

The cockpit is very luxurious to be truthful, all prettied and carbon fibered up. I imagine the cable being added there just fine with the design. I'm guessin' the car is a carbon fiber tub-type chassis and the panels we see in the photo are structural components of the machine. The days of space-frame Cro-Mo steel framed cars in this class are dead or gasping their last, low-budget dyin' breaths.

Originally Posted by Thetyim

This is a new car that was made in a short time.
It is usual to go up in small stages and learn along the way

Most race car drivers I know are a bit Gonzo, all or nothing kinda guys. There mighta been some problems with stability or some that caused him to back off it and not go into the higher gear, most guys I know, you let him behind the wheel they'll wind it up to the limit. New race engines we built got a 15 minute run-in then were ready for red-line racing, Chassis compenents? Couple hard laps before each race, dial 'em in, race 'em. You don't take it easy on new (or old) cars when your going for LSR.
I'm Willing to bet the car had problems

BTW

First person to set a record over the speed of sound by a land vehicle.
Oct 15, 1997 763.035* Thrust SSC II Andy Green Black Rock 2 Rolls Royce Jet Engines

Looks like they got the right guy to wheel the fucker. If he's a pilot he might be more conservtive than the fuckers I built shit for
LSR History of records

image snatched from:
The History of Land Speed Racing

On further reading:

Green may own the official record, but Antelope Valley - and Stan Barrett, a former Hollywood stuntman - are still owners of the unofficial absolute world speed mark for a land vehicle. Barrett earned that title when he became the first - and so far the only person - to drive a land vehicle through the sound barrier. The event occurred at Edwards AFB on Dec. 17, 1979, the 76th anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk - and, so far, has been unmatched by anyone.

The air temperature was about 20 degrees when Barrett, a quiet, former Air Force enlisted man who was then 36, ignited the hybrid liquid and solid-fuel rocket engine on a sleek, slender car that rolled on solid-forged aluminum wheels.

The time was 7:25 a.m., and seconds later he was streaking south along the eastern side of Rogers Dry Lake, achieving a top speed of 739.666 mph. Air Force radar tracking units, the same ones used to calculate the precise speed of test aircraft at the base, confirmed that Barrett's run that day had reached Mach 1.01.06. An air speed indicator in the car's cockpit, linked to a pilot tube on the nose, also recorded a top speed of 739.

Seems Andy was the first to officially set a LSR over Mach 1 but the guys above were the first to actually drive on land over Mach 1. crazy bastards strapped a sidewinder missle on a skate board, I guess...

The Budweiser Rocket Car used a sidewinder missile to push it up to Mach 1, but didn't meet the international requirements for going into the record books.