Thrust SSC Wallpapers

Thrust SSC Wallpapers

Thrust SSC car: ThrustSSC is the most powerful, most extraordinary car ever to be designed to attack the Land Speed Record, and as the SSC (SuperSonic Car) in the name indicates, it is also one of the first with genuine potential to breach the Sound Barrier. Where Thrust2 used a 17,000 pound thrust Rolls-Royce Avon 302 engine from a Lightning fighter, ThrustSSC 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. Richard Noble has acquired two of them, but also has two even more powerful 205 units (25,000lb of thrust) for use when ThrustSSC has proved itself in transonic testing. ThrustSSC thus has the power of 1000 Ford Escorts, or 145 Formula One cars...It will weighs 10 tonnes, and initial performance estimates suggest it will accelerate from standstill to 100mph (161kph) in four seconds or 0-600mph (1000kph) in 16 seconds. Within five miles (8 km) it will then reach its maximum speed of 850 mph within half a minute. Technology: There are two sides to the technology behind ThrustSSC - the car itself, and the equipment used to support operations of the car.
Engineering: ThrustSSC herself is the result of 2½ years of research into the shape of a supersonic vehicle, followed by another 2 years and some 100,000 manhours of build. Not only is the reseach and design fascinating of itself, but the story of that research makes compelling reading. Equipment: The equipment used to support ThrustSSC is no less fascinating. Never before in an attempt on the World Land Speed Record has so much specialised technology been gathered together, not just to make it possible, but to make it as safe as possible. From a 155mph firechase, to a 6-ton capacity fork-lift capable of use over the roughest terrain; from car-to-pits telemetry to satellite communications; this is the story of that equipment. History of the World Land Speed Record. The challenge of becoming the fastest man on Earth has certainly inspired a select band of very brave men throughout the years. Many who succeeded in their quest were rewarded with fame, wealth and national honours. Many of those who failed were subjected to the most public and horrifying of deaths. As these courageous men strapped themselves into their formidable machines, they knew that they could never be in complete control of their destiny, that their next journey could be their last. And yet they were there because they wanted to be - and they kept coming back for more. Few people can understand the obsession that gripped these men, but this obsession created the ultimate form of motor racing - the quest for the Land Speed Record.
The Electric Era of the Land Speed Record covers a brief inaugural period from 1898 to 1899, when two European drivers with electric cars battle for the record on a stretch of French public road. Eventually, Steam and Pistons Prevail as other European drivers nudge the record over 100 mph. Several American celebrities also make their mark in the record book. Three British drivers set new records Down by the Seaside between 1924 and 1927. Two of them go on to dominate the record in America, the other becomes the first fatality in Land Speed Record history. Speed Demons at Daytona push the record up over 200 mph, watched by thousands of spectators. Americas determination to compete with the British imports ends in further tragedy. Brits at Bonneville tighten their grip on the record at the famous Salt Flats, surpassing 300 mph and pushing on towards 400 mph in the late 1930s. American hot-rodders use jet power with devastating effect in the 1960s - The Jet Car Joust sees the record soar to an incredible 600 mph, with quite a few scares along the way! Rockets Rule in the 1970s as American rocket-powered cars set the trend. The Brits Hit Back in the 1980s with their first jet-powered contender, after years of American domination. BOOM!!! The challenge of becoming the fastest man on Earth has certainly inspired a select band of very brave men throughout the years. Many who succeeded in their quest were rewarded with fame wealth and national honours. Many of those who failed were subject to most public and horrifying deaths. As these courageous men strapped themselves into their formidable machines, they knew they could never be in complete control of their destiny, that their next journey could be their last. And yet they were there because they wanted to be - and they kept coming back for more. Few people can understand the obsession that gripped these men, but this obsession created the ultimate form of motor racing - the quest for the Land Speed Record. Richard Noble - the current Land Speed Record Holder for Great Britain - had a vision. To paraphrase a famous saying "to boldly go where no man has gone before", namely to build a car to go supersonic on land. The good and the mighty said it could not be done; it was treading into the unknown of physics and dynamics, with not a little concern as to safety! On 15 October 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA, Richard Noble achieved destiny for driver Andy Green, who wrote his name in the record books as the first and only man to have driven faster than the speed of sound and set the first supersonic World Land Speed Record at an average of 763mph over a two-way average run. Thrust SSC created shock waves of 150ft stretching out each side of the car (see picture above). Few gave it a chance and even fewer gave it any cash, but against all the odds Thrust SSC thundered through the sound barrier!