Soldato
So much can go wrong at that kind of speed, I just fear this is a tradgedy in the making.
Bloodhound SSC enters build phase
- Thread starter peterattheboro
- Start date
So much can go wrong at that kind of speed, I just fear this is a tradgedy in the making.
I'm siding with AH. It is on the ground and there are various other land speed records depending on how and what wheels are driven 
Caporegime
I'm siding with AH. It is on the ground and there are various other land speed records depending on how and what wheels are driven
I disagree, how is it a "car"? It might be a land based vehicle, but it isn't a car (SSC Supersonic CAR).
carries a person, has wheels, stays on the ground and can turn = it's a car. Just a supersonic impractical one. But then again the huge engined wheel driven ones also lack real steering, only carry one person and are totally impractical.
Soldato
Why isn't it a car?
If it's not a car then it's a plane with amputated wings 
Caporegime
So by that definition, a bike is a car? a truck is a car? a train is a car? Hell, by your definition, a Tesco shopping trolley is a car.
Quite.
It is not disdain, I'm sure most of us love that they are trying to do this, I'm just saying I disagree with the idea behind it being called "land speed" (previous entries over the years have also mostly/always been rockets).
Yep. What para has is a nice list of automobiles
Soldato
Um....the definition of automobile says nothing about the wheels being driven IIRC. Just that said automobile moves under its own power. 'Car' comes from the latin carrus (wheeled vehicle) I believe.
Are you absolutely sure on that?
The last rocket powered holder of the LSR was before Thrust 2 - and there's only been one rocket car thats held the record. Record was set in 1970 and was broken by Richard Noble in Thrust2 in 1983
Most recent cars have been turbojet engines, only Thrust SSC used the Turbofan engine design successfully.
The last car that was wheel driven to hold the overall LSR was in 1937. The current wheel driven LSR is around 450mph iirc.
All the the FIA states as requirements for the Land Speed Record is :
Land Vehicle : Vehicle propelled by its own means in constant contact with the ground either directly by mechanical means or indirectly by ground effect, and the motive power and steering system of which are constantly and entirely controlled by a driver on board the vehicle.
So, must have a driver on board steering and controlling the forward motion and must be in contact with the ground. Thats it.
There are so many classes for the Land Speed Record that it's unbelievable really.
In Category A - there are 13 groups *engine type*, each with 11 classes *engine capacity* and then 3 sub classes *unladen weight*
Category B - Another 13 groups, this time with 18 classes and then the 3 sub classes
Category C - Specials Vehicles *which is what Thrust 2, Thrust SSC, Spirit of America etc... fall under - and is really anything goes...*
Category D - Drag Racers - this follows the FIA Drag Racing regulations.
That gives the possibility for well over 1100 individual Land Speed Records... *my mental calculations produced something in the region of 1130 for the first 2 categories by themselves...*
Also, are you so against the Water Speed Record as well? Even Donald Campbell was using a jet engine to push himself along rather than a prop or a water jet?
Nope, how does any of those fit my description. Apart from truck, which is a big car, with a different name.
As said where does autombile mean powered wheels?
So the Brits are going to produce something technically amazing and yet again there's a bunch of internet superheroes moaning and whinging because it doesn't meet their stringent definitions and standards.
No wonder we don't bother making anything good any more.
No wonder we don't bother making anything good any more.
Soldato
It's going to be awesome.
Thrust SSC attracted similar criticism until it was successful and then the critics all went silent and some jumped on the bandwagon.
This is something that nobody does better than Britain. It surpasses F1 level of engineering by far. They need to produce downforce to keep that car on the road but without causing too much drag that it won't break the 1000mph barrier. Thrust SSC had a problem on its test runs where it was actually airborn for a few hundred meters and the run was disqualified.
Andy Green is a legend.
Thrust SSC attracted similar criticism until it was successful and then the critics all went silent and some jumped on the bandwagon.
This is something that nobody does better than Britain. It surpasses F1 level of engineering by far. They need to produce downforce to keep that car on the road but without causing too much drag that it won't break the 1000mph barrier. Thrust SSC had a problem on its test runs where it was actually airborn for a few hundred meters and the run was disqualified.
Andy Green is a legend.