Thrust2
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Thrust2 is a British designed and built jet propelled car, which held the world
land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...
from 4 October 1983 to 25 September 1997. The Thrust2 is powered by a single
Rolls-Royce Avon The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1950, the engine went on to become one of their most successful post-World War II engine designs. It was used in a wide variety of ai ...
jet engine sourced from an
English Electric Lightning The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was capable of a top speed of above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufa ...
, and has a configuration somewhat resembling that of the mid-1960s-era
J79 The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under lice ...
turbojet-powered land speed record cars of
Art Arfons Arthur Eugene Arfons (February 3, 1926 – December 3, 2007) was the world land speed record holder three times from 1964 to 1965 with his ''Green Monster'' series of jet-powered cars, after a series of ''Green Monster'' piston-engine and je ...
, collectively known as the "Green Monster" cars.


History


Conception

The “Land Speed Record” (LSR), which was valid for 12 years, 11 months and 11 days at that time, was over one mile (with a flying start). The record was set on October 23, 1970 by the American
Gary Gabelich Gary Gabelich ( Croatian ''Gabelić''; August 29, 1940 – January 26, 1984) was an American motorsport driver who set the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Land Speed Record (LSR) with the rocket car Blue Flame on October 23, 1970, ...
with
Blue Flame ''Blue Flame'' is a rocket-powered land speed racing vehicle that was driven by Gary Gabelich and achieved a world land speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on October 23, 1970. The vehicle set the FIA world record for the flying mile ...
, a rocket car on the
Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...
.
Richard Noble Richard James Anthony Noble, OBE (born 6 March 1946) is a Scottish entrepreneur who was holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997. He was also the project director of ThrustSSC, the vehicle which holds the current land speed record ...
stepped up to "bring back this record for Britain". The time it took Richard Noble from the idea to the first concept to the successful record attempt was nine years. In 1977 the Thrust2 project was officially presented at the Motorfair 1977 at London's Earls Court. In 1978, the design and construction of Thrust2 began. The hired designer John Ackroyd retired to an abandoned cottage on the Isle of Wight for the design studies.


Early stages and Thrust1

Noble's plan was to build three vehicles: The first vehicle (Thrust1) was intended as a pure "test platform" for parts development and turbine tests, and was not intended for the record attempt. Then a "demonstration car" should be built with the second vehicle (Thrust2), with which the interest of potential sponsors should be aroused. As a special highlight, this car was designed as a two-seater with an additional cabin on the left-hand side of the vehicle. Noble wanted to impress passengers / sponsors with runs up to 200 miles per hour (approx. 320 km / h) and win them over to his project. The last thing that was planned was the actual record-breaking vehicle (Thrust3). Thrust1 completed its first high-speed run on March 7, 1977. The first run was performed with a standing start at idle thrust and gradual acceleration and had an estimated top speed of about 180 mph (about 290 km / h). The second run was a so-called drag start, in which the thrust against the brakes is built up and then released. At approximately 140 mph, a rear wheel bearing stuck, the vehicle slewed sideways and overturned several times. Since this "triple roll" mostly took place in the air and the car landed on its side, the damage to the vehicle itself was relatively minor and Noble was also uninjured. The Rolls-Royce Derwent engine with its protruding combustion chambers had sustained the large portion of the damage. The jet pipe was torn off and at least one combustion chamber was destroyed. Thrust1 was never used again and the wreck was sold to a scrap dealer for £175. Despite this setback, Noble was not discouraged and saw this as completing the first step in his original plan. After a new calculation of the financial situation, Noble came to the decision to streamline the project. The levels Thrust2 (as a marketing tool) and Thrust3 (as an emergency vehicle) were merged, and the further development work was placed in the hands of John Ackroyd.


Overview of the results achieved with Thrust2

On 4 October 1983 the car reached a top speed of and broke the record at (average speed of two runs within one hour). KTVN TV (
Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
) reporter/photographers Michael Hagerty and Gary Martin covered the record setting attempt in the days leading up to the record. The car was unceremoniously stored under a tarpaulin in the only automotive garage at Black Rock desert when it wasn't being worked on by the team. A propane torch was used to burn the line straight down the hard cracked dirt of the desert for the driver to follow. No other cars were allowed to approach the race track except on the perpendicular lest the driver accidentally follow those car tracks as a different path through the measured mile. In the record attempt on October 3, the following results were achieved in detail:


Technical data and vehicle information

* Thrust2 is powered by a Rolls-Royce RB.146 (Avon302C) jet turbine that delivers 72 kN of thrust. At this corresponds to an output of . * Thrust2 is long and wide and high including the tail fins. The vehicle alone has a height of . * The wheelbase is , the front axle track is and that of the rear axle is . The turning circle of Thrust2 is . * The vehicle has a ground clearance of . * The car's two tanks can hold a maximum of of “Jet A 1” kerosene fuel. * The total weight is . * Thrust2 is designed as a two-seater with a second cabin on the left side of the vehicle in order to offer paying passengers or sponsors a "ride-along" opportunity up to 200 mph.


Data and information on the record attempts

* It took Thrust2 about 59 seconds to accelerate from standstill to : in about 9 seconds, to , after about 20 seconds , and 40 seconds to reach . * The rubber tires visible in some pictures and film recordings were only put on to protect the highly sensitive aluminum disc wheels from damage during towing. * At around the tail fins began to stabilize the vehicle, which was previously difficult to control (“all over the place”), so that it could run smoothly in a straight line. * At a speed of about , a shock wave began to build up in front of the vehicle, which appeared as “fog” around the car and was later described by Noble as “something really worth seeing”. * The total fuel consumption for each record run was approximately per minute. * After the overrun cut-off when crossing the finish line, Thrust2 still had to coast down to a speed of before the three braking parachutes, each in diameter, could be used. * The screens decelerate the vehicle to about before deploying the rotors at about .


After breaking the record

When the car was offered for sale at £90,000 in 1991, an extensive fundraising campaign was organised without government assistance to keep the car in Britain. The bid was successful, and today Thrust2 and its successor,
ThrustSSC ThrustSSC, Thrust SSC or Thrust SuperSonic Car is a British jet car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, and Jeremy Bliss. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record, set on 15 October 1997, and driven by Andy Green, w ...
, are displayed at the
Coventry Transport Museum Coventry Transport Museum (formerly known as the Museum of British Road Transport) is a transport museum, located in Coventry city centre, England. It houses the largest collection of British-made road transport held in public ownership. It i ...
in
Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, England. In 1997 Thrust2's record was broken by Richard Noble's follow up car,
ThrustSSC ThrustSSC, Thrust SSC or Thrust SuperSonic Car is a British jet car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers, and Jeremy Bliss. Thrust SSC holds the world land speed record, set on 15 October 1997, and driven by Andy Green, w ...
, with a top speed of .


Notes


References

*


External links


Coventry Transport Museum
where Thrust2 is on display Jet land speed record cars Black Rock Desert Collection of the Coventry Transport Museum {{modern-auto-stub