Rocket Car for Land Speed Record Attempt

[OverTheTop]

Exclusive: Aussie Invader 5R rocket-car to attempt land speed record and 1000mph in 2022 | CarAdvice

The Aussie Invader 5R rocket-car will attempt to break the land speed record next year, a spokesperson for the project has revealed to CarAdvice. Founder and designer Rosco McGlashan (pictured below) ...

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"The Aussie Invader 5R rocket-car will attempt to break the land speed record next year, a spokesperson for the project has revealed to CarAdvice.

Founder and designer Rosco McGlashan (pictured below) will reportedly pilot the 16-metre long nine-tonne steel-framed vehicle to its target top speed of 1000mph (1609km/h). While a location is yet to be finalised, initial test runs will likely take place in the Queensland or Western Australian desert.

Built by a team of Perth-based engineers, the 5R is powered by a single bi-propellant rocket reportedly capable of producing upwards of 62,000lbs of thrust. For reference, this roughly equates to 149,000kW (or the power of 2128 Volkswagen Polo hatchbacks)."

 

[Cape Byron]

Rosco is a true Aussie legend. Been following his exploits for a while.

 

[AZ_Ron]

There is a great video on Youtube that details this vehicle...

 

[kuririn]

There is a great video on Youtube that details this vehicle...

Actually a couple from "Impossible Engineering":

 

[kuririn]

Also was watching a video on the Brits' effort called Bloodhound SSC a few weeks ago.
They've been working on this project for a few years now.
I think they might have run into some funding problems IIRC.

So who's gonna be the first to break 1000MPH?
Brits or Aussies?
Place your bets boys.

 

[Cape Byron]

LSR cars would make good model rockets wouldn't they?

Oh, and to answer @kuririn 's question... it won't be the Poms Brits.

 

[GalantVR41062]

Hybrid vs bi propellant rocket cars. I like that the bloodhound SSC uses a Indy car v8 engine for the fuel pump for the hybrid rocket motor.

~John

 

[kuririn]

After further research I found out that the Bloodhound LSR (formerly SSC) project is on life support.
The car was put up for sale last month. The project team has moved on to other projects.
Unless another billionaire steps in to finance this the Brits are done.
Go Oz.

 

[dhbarr]

Yikes, fuming nitric. I understand why you'd want to avoid cryo in a desert, but hopefully they've figured out how to avoid hard starts.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

So how long before the technology used in these vehicles trickles down to cars you or I might buy?

I could so use "Rocket-Assist" on the onramps to I-40.

 

[Funkworks]

LSR cars would make good model rockets wouldn't they?

Here's a starting I just found. Conversion anyone?

https://www.ugofadini.com/current.html

 

[Cape Byron]

Here's a starting I just found. Conversion anyone?

https://www.ugofadini.com/current.html

Wow, they look very nice!

 

[Cape Byron]

Annnd here's another one.

Lippisch never built this, only ever existed as sketches.

» Streamlined Dreams

But available as a die cast model.

Valier-Lippisch Vehicle 2 1928 Rocket Car Streamlined Dreams (Diecast Car) - HobbySearch Diecast Car Store

Our shop retails 1/43 Valier-Lippisch Vehicle 2 1928 Rocket Car Streamlined Dreams (Diecast Car) Bizarre B1065 Diecast Car on the Web.

www.1999.co.jp

 

[Mugs914]

A few that actually ran...

The Craig Breedlove collection.

Spirit of America-Sonic Arrow, 1997

Spirit of America - Sonic 1, 1965

Spirit of America, 1964

I am a certifiable land speed junkie. Been following since I was five...

My hands have seen many an unfortunate rocket mounted on wheels and sent hurtling across a large parking lot or empty street.

 

[Cape Byron]

I am a certifiable land speed junkie. Been following since I was five...

My hands have seen many an unfortunate rocket mounted on wheels and sent hurtling across a large parking lot or empty street.

Yep. Fast is amazing.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

It seems as if there are basically two styles to these vehicles.
Those with a forward cockpit; wherein you are "First at the scene of the accident".

Or those with the cockpit towards the rear; wherein everything blows up in your face.

 

[Mugs914]

The difference comes down to power plant. No one wants to sit behind a jet engine, though some, including Roscoe, have placed themselves along side.

The rocket boys sit in the back, behind the fuel tanks and ahead of the engine. Takes a special brand of huevos to take up residence between a marginally controlled, continuous explosion and the toxic, corrosive, unstable, ludicrously volatile chemicals that are keeping it lit. (Never mind the 1k mph part...)

 

[Mugs914]

I'm a BIG Roscoe fan; have been for years. Not too many like him left, unfortunately...

Here are a few of his previous efforts.

Roscoe on his rocket bike (not kidding...)

And in his rocket go-kart; 5.9 at 252mph in the quarter (not kidding here either)

A couple of Roscoe's Aussie Invader jet dragsters. BTW, the gent on the right in the picture below is Ken Warby, holder of the world water speed record at a tick over 317 mph (Also one of my heroes!). He ran the Thunda form Down Unda jet cars for a while after setting the WSR. He and his son David are working up speeds on their new boat for a crack at beating Ken's 317 mph record that has stood since 1977. https://www.facebook.com/warbymotorsport

Aussie invader 2, holder of the Australian land speed record, 498.7 mph.

And Aussie Invader 3... 637 mph one way. (Unable to back up the speed with a return run due to weather, so no official record...)

And now on to Aussie Invader 5R...

Go get 'em Roscoe!! I'm pulling for you, mate!!!

 

[jd2cylman]

I’d wager that at 300 mph, water gets pretty unforgiving...

 

[kuririn]

I was reading a few days ago about some of the lesser known land speed record cars and drivers of the '60s and '70s. One guy drove both land speed record cars and water speed record hydroplanes. He was killed when his hydroplane flipped and became airborne.
It takes a special kind of courage to pilot these machines.

 

[kuririn]

OK, found the webpage. Samuel Hawley is the author of a book, Speed Duel.
It chronicles the drivers and cars that attempted to break the land speed records of the 60s.
This link has several pictures and interviews. Fascinating stuff.
Land Speed Record - Craig Breedlove, Art Arfons, Mickey Thompson and more (samuelhawley.com)

 

[Bowman]

I’d wager that at 300 mph, water gets pretty unforgiving...

Water doesn't even say it's sorry when you come off your ski at 50mph, I can't imagine 300.
You want to skim and skip, when you dig-in is where the pain starts LOL.

 

[Bowman]

Takes a special brand of huevos to take up residence between a marginally controlled, continuous explosion and the toxic, corrosive, unstable, ludicrously volatile chemicals that are keeping it lit. (Never mind the 1k mph part...)

I have been on a boat where the vibration from a bent prop-shaft was enough to blur your vision.
Those salt-flats cars can get like that at the big end.
I cannot imagine having to steer or otherwise control it at 1K and not being able to see or even hold onto the controls.
Much prefer the remote control capability that modern technology makes possible, more like a predator drone

 

[Cape Byron]

Let's not forget the late Art Arfons who was LSR holder on a tiny budget. Hot rodder turned engineer. Also tractor pull champion. All hail the Green Monster!

Yes, I know it isn't green, but it was still called the Green Monster. Most of his LSR cars and jet dragsters were.

 

[kuririn]

The difference comes down to power plant. No one wants to sit behind a jet engine, though some, including Roscoe, have placed themselves along side.

Found a picture in my link above of Art Arfons' Cyclops.
The drivers cockpit is in front of the jet intake!
Yikes!

 

[Cape Byron]

Found a picture in my link above of Art Arfons' Cyclops.
The drivers cockpit is in front of the jet intake!
Yikes!
View attachment 453806

There are a couple of great documentaries on Art Arfons if you check YouTube. Sorry, heading out the door or I'd recommend a couple.

 

[teepot]

What I would like to know is where do they get their engines. Do the go to Pratt or GE or are there surplus engines from the Military?

 

[kuririn]

The ones I've read about have all been military surplus.
There's a story about Craig Breedlove losing an engine because the company he hired to refurbish it wrecked it instead.
Big lawsuit.
But I think it's a safe bet that the Bloodhound uses a new jet engine.
Same one as the Typhoon fighter jet.

 

[Cape Byron]

"Four jet cars had turned up in Utah that year, Craig Breedlove’s among them. In 1963, the charismatic Californian smashed the 400mph barrier. Knowing that he couldn’t match his rival’s budget, Arfons did what he did best: he started scavenging. After locating a J79 jet engine that produced 17,500lb of thrust (compared to the J47 in Breedlove’s Spirit of America that made 5200), he handed over just $700 and dragged it home. It had failed after a shard of metal had been sucked into the intake and damaged 60 turbine blades and should have been scrapped – a point not lost on the government after Arfons contacted General Electric for a manual. A day later a senior Air Force colonel arrived in Akron demanding the engine be returned: it wasn’t intended for civilians. “I showed him my receipt and said it was junk and you guys threw it away,” Arfons later recalled."

Art Arfons was a funny guy.

 

[Bruce]

Knowing that he couldn’t match his rival’s budget, Arfons did what he did best: he started scavenging. After locating a J79 jet engine that produced 17,500lb of thrust (compared to the J47 in Breedlove’s Spirit of America that made 5200), he handed over just $700 and dragged it home. It had failed after a shard of metal had been sucked into the intake and damaged 60 turbine blades

My understanding was that Art Arfons painstakingly repaired each of those 60 turbine blades by hand during a late night garage session and successfully ran the car for years on that motor.

I truly admire someone who makes the most with what they have to work with...