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June 8, 2008

Ladies & Gentlemen:

The following correspondence is between Seattle Weekly reporter and Andy Green; the current record holder in the ThrustSSC, set in Oct. of 1997:

Hello Andy, I’m a reporter at a newspaper in Seattle working on a story about Ed Shadle, a guy with the North American Eagle project who I think you have met.

The story’s mostly a profile of him but I think it’s a good idea to add the perspectives of others who’ve been involved with the land speed record.

What I really want to know is, What’s it like to drive a car 763 mph?

But also, any observations you’d care to add about Ed, Black Rock, the North American Eagle or land speed racing in general, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jesse

Andy Green's reply:

Jesse

Thanks for getting in touch.  As Ed has probably told you, I am a big supporter of the current and planned attempts on the World Land Speed Record  - 10 years is more than long enough for it to stand and it’s high time that someone got out there and broke it again -  preferably several times.  This will open the way up for another British team to start designing a new car to get the record back.   It will let a whole generation of 12 year olds (of all ages – me included!) experience a record as it happens, which is an amazing event to watch on TV, through the press or on the internet.  As you may know, 11 years ago the Thrust SSC website was the most successful site in the world, and I have no doubt that a new attempt such as Ed’s will attract a similar level of interest from around the world.

Driving a car supersonic is an amazing experience.  Firstly, the huge difference between the land speed record and conventional motor racing (apart for the fact that record breaking is so much more interesting!) is that it is primarily development and test driving, with only  the last 2 runs qualifying as ‘the record’.   As a result, the driving is very exacting and progressive as the car is developed in stages through the most demanding of driving environments, where dynamic pressures exceed ¾ ton per sq foot and wheel rims experience over 30 000 radial ‘G’.   So what are the sensations during this process?  First, the ride is generally very smooth: if it’s bumpy then you’re probably running in the wrong place.  The handling of the car is obviously very specific to the vehicle, but at those sorts of speeds the tyre cornering stiffness is minimal and aerodynamics dominate, so any minor changes in surface or wind speed will cause the car to move around and give the driver plenty to do to keep the car straight.  The popular misconception of ‘surely you just hold the steering wheel still and let the car go in a straight line’ couldn’t be further from the truth.  Just try it for a few seconds on the highway, to see how much you can drift at 50 or 60 mph – and then imagine driving off-road at 15 times that speed!  The noise is both massive and unique – you can’t hear the distinctive sonic boom from inside the car (any more than a speed boat feels its own bow wave), but you can hear the howling of the standing shock waves on the canopy, and around the bodywork, as the air is literally battered out of the way as you travel at 350 ft per second.  And then of course there’s the realisation that this is a unique experience – I’m looking forward to Ed getting there so I finally have someone with whom to compare notes!

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Eagle run again.  This is an amazing sport and there aren’t many people out there with the determination and skill to take it on.  Let’s hope it’s not too long before we see a new record, hopefully starting with the number ‘8’.  I will certainly be cheering them on from over here.

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